The Selva Negra Estate is located in the Northern Highlands of Nicaragua, overlooking the beautiful town of Matagalpa. This sustainable coffee plantation is run by Eddy and Mausi Kuhl (parents of JavaVino owner, Heddy Kuhl), both of whom have quite a history of coffee in their blood. More than 100 years ago, Kuhl’s grandfather was extended an invitation from the Nicaraguan government to grow coffee. Today, Selva Negra is not only a sustainable coffee farm, but also a top tourist attraction in the Matagalpa region. Pictured to the left is the coffee drying process at Selva Negra.

Selva Negra coffee is shade grown and most of the fertilizer comes from organic sources around the farm. Selva Negra brings the idea of recycling to a new level. They are constantly searching for new ways to run the farm in the most efficient and productive way possible. Selva Negra is Rainforest Alliance-certified.

The coffee harvest is an exciting time at Selva Negra as in most coffee estates because there is so much activity. Additional help is hired during this time to help with the amazing amount of work involved in hand picking each red bean in each of the plantillos at the estate. Pictured to the left is the coffee picking process, as the coffee berries are picked from the plants.

Pictured to the right Selva Negra workers grade through the coffee beans. Grading is the process of selectively improving the overall quality of the coffee by removing beans of a lesser quality. In Selva Negra, aside from the various efforts in previous stages of this cycle that we have mentioned, the grading process involves three different methods of removing lesser quality beans; be weight, by size and by visual/manual seperation.

For more information on the Selva Negra Coffee Estate visit their website at: http://www.selvanegra.com/en/Coffee-Shade.html.

Read about how Selva Negra helps the people and helps the environment.