The Farm
Gold Mountain Coffee Growers confront every decision they make with the question: how can we go above and beyond the average. They do not consider themselves a standard cooperative but a community that connects Nicaraguan farmers to overseas roasters. Although there is a flagship farm that houses various educational resources, Gold Mountain employees spend every day on site at partnering farms; helping to check the ripeness of every cherry by color matching and checking sugar contents with refractometers, ensuring their farmers continue to grow award winning coffee. The beans are not the only ones winning awards though. Gold Mountain Coffee Growers won the SCAE excellence award for sustainability in 2016 for their efforts in preserving rainforest land. They achieved this by acquiring their own rainforest in order to help preserve the fauna and flora that live there as well as filtering their used processing water so that it can be safely reintroduced to the environment. Gold Mountain helps out their surrounding communities as well, reinvesting funds for projects that bring resources such as clean water, electricity, and education to the area.
The new coffee we have the pleasure of sharing is a variety called Maragogype (mara-go-heap-aye.) It is a natural mutation of Typica also known as the Elephant Bean. Once you see these beans, it’s quite clear how they received their name. They are a washed process that have a fermentation time of 15 hours. The beans are monitored and sorted through every step of processing: before being pulped, after being washed, and while laying out to dry on raised beds. Gold Mountain employs a team of 80 people to manually sort through these cherries, picking out imperfections and ensuring the quality of the product reflects the high standards the farms hold themselves to.
