Nicaragua Balladares Maracaturra

About This Coffee

The berry-dried Maracaturra from Nicaragua's super-producer Luis Alberto Balladares is the jewel in his coffee crown, which has made him famous throughout the coffee world. The coffee is known for its outstanding quality and placed eighth in the Cup of Excellence Nicaragua 2025 with a taste score of 88 points. An incredibly carefully produced coffee with a unique character. Luis is an icon in the country's coffee tradition, his knowledge and passion comes from three generations of family heritage. This coffee - of the large-bean variety Maracaturra - comes from his top farm Un Regalo De Dios (which means "a gift from God". One thing that makes Luis's coffee so unique is his drying process, where the coffee is given a long time to dry (up to 40 days). This is an important key to achieving complexity and long shelf life of the coffee. Another factor is the high altitude of his farm; Maracaturra grows on the farm's highest point and matures slowly. All this together results in a complex, soft-fruity, clean, balanced and extremely good coffee. MORE ABOUT LUIS ALBERTO BALLADAREZ Luis Alberto Balladarez comes from a long line of coffee farmers in northern Nicaragua. Although many exporters operate in Ocotal, the capital of Nueva Segovia, Luis Alberto's Las Segovias washing station stands out for its strong focus on specialty coffee and carefully crafted micro-lots. What makes Luis Alberto particularly unique in the region is that he not only processes coffee for others, but also owns and operates several of his own farms. The success of these farms has given him great confidence among other producers, who are therefore happy to entrust him with processing their coffee. Luis Alberto has an outstanding sense of quality and attaches great importance to every detail throughout the chain – from cultivation to export-ready beans. Un Regalo de Dios, where this Maracaturra coffee is grown, is located in the Dipilto–Jalapa mountain range in northern Nueva Segovia. The farm ranges between 1,400 and 1,700 meters above sea level, and Maracaturra is grown at 1,650–1,700 meters – the farm's highest point.