Nicaragua: El Suspiro, Orange Bourbon, Cold Anaerobic Natural

An intense sweetness of candyfloss mingles with sweet pink grapes up front, backed by a silky texture. Elegant hibiscus and orange zest follow on from the grape and linger into the aftertaste for an elegant and complex cup.

This is a coffee that exists because someone who knows our Green Buyer Roland’s palate offered him a choice and he trusted his gut. This is one of the wonderful benefits of working with producers long-term and building genuine friendships at origin. We know what they are best at, they know what we love to buy. We feel that this Cold Anaerobic Natural Orange Bourbon from Finca El Suspiro sits right in that Goldilocks zone.

Wingo Knows Us So Well!

When asked what led us to buy this particular coffee, our Green Buyer Roland had this to say:

"This lot was suggested to me by Wingo Mierisch, who knows how much I love Orange Bourbons (see our Striped Orange Bourbon from La Huella as well). He offered me different processes of the Orange Bourbon, which is a large section of El Suspiro and, remembering how well the Cold Fermented Naturals they’ve done before have turned out, I decided on this one. When the sample turned up for me to taste, I was very pleased that it turned out as well as I had hoped."

Coffee Amongst Rainforest

The Mierisch family have 11 farms in Nicaragua and 3 in Honduras. The Nicaraguan farms are Limoncillo, Las Delicias, San José, Los Placeres, La Huella, Mama Mina, La Escondida, El Encanto, El Suspiro, Los Altos, and Laguna Verde. This is the first time we have decided to buy coffee from El Suspiro, although we have been buying from the family's other farms since 2007, making them one of our longest-running producer relationships.

El Suspiro is located in the community of El Arenal, in the department of Matagalpa, within Nicaragua’s northern highlands. The farm sits at 1,350 to 1,450 metres above sea level, with a mild diurnal cycle of 21°C during the day and 15°C at night, ideal conditions for coffee production.

Three of the other Mierisch farms share the same valley: La Huella, Mama Mina, and Los Altos. The estate covers 35 hectares in total, with 15 hectares planted in coffee and the remaining 20 hectares retained as protected rainforest. El Suspiro has the smallest coffee-growing area of all fourteen Mierisch family farms.

Orange Bourbon

Orange Bourbon is a natural mutation of Red Bourbon. As the name suggests, the cherries ripen to orange rather than red when they're ready to pick. The Bourbon varietal readily throws colour mutations, which is why you'll find red, yellow, pink, and orange Bourbons throughout the coffee world.

For a deep dive into Bourbon, check out our Varietal Guide here: Coffee Varietal Guide: Bourbon.

The Orange Bourbon plant stock used here originally came from El Salvador, when Alejandro Saldaña (owner of El Suspiro and uncle to Wingo Mierisch) brought seeds over and planted them on his farm. The rest of the family were impressed with the quality and have since requested seed to plant across other Mierisch farms. Every Orange Bourbon coffee tree on the Mierisch estate traces back to this small 15-hectare farm.

The orange ripening colour makes the variety a challenge to harvest selectively. A red cherry against a green leaf is easy for a picker to identify, whereas orange cherries can look much closer to under-ripe fruit. This makes harvesting slower and requires greater concentration from experienced pickers. The excellent cup quality, however, means the additional effort is well worth it.

Orange Bourbon is now planted on three farms in Nicaragua (El Suspiro, La Huella, and La Escondida) and two farms in Honduras (Cerro Azul and Santa Lucía). We have Alejandro's original decision at El Suspiro to thank for all the great Orange Bourbon coffees we've enjoyed from Fincas Mierisch, including the Striped Orange Bourbon from La Huella.

You can find that coffee here: Nicaragua: La Huella, Striped Orange Bourbon.

The Importance Of Pickers

Because Orange Bourbon is inherently slower and more skill-dependent to harvest, it's a significant commitment for Farm Manager Jaime Sevilla to dedicate labour to growing it. Coffee producers often prioritise varieties that offer practical advantages such as larger yields, pest resistance, or compact tree structures that make harvesting faster and easier.

Choosing to invest in a varietal that moves in the opposite direction, purely because it produces delicious coffee, demonstrates the dedication to quality that the team at El Suspiro exemplify.

Labour shortages have become a real concern across Central America, with many people from coffee-growing regions moving to cities or emigrating to the United States in search of better opportunities. The Mierisch farms have faced significant challenges in recent years due to shortages of manual labour. Nicaragua has been particularly affected, with many rural workers choosing to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

With labour in short supply, the family have had to focus on achieving the best possible results with the people available to them, often meaning regular customers like ourselves receive smaller quantities than we'd ideally like. At a time when skilled pickers are a scarce resource, the family continue to prioritise Orange Bourbon. This combination of high labour requirements and limited workforce is a major reason why this lot is so limited.

What Is Cold Processing?

The Cold Anaerobic processing for this coffee takes place in the cold room the Mierisch family have built at their Don Esteban mill. This facility keeps coffee at significantly cooler temperatures during processing. The room is maintained only a few degrees above freezing, much lower than the ambient temperatures normally experienced in Nicaragua.

Once harvested, the coffee cherries are placed into plastic bags and submerged in water. The bags are then placed inside metal barrels and sealed using an airlock system made from tubing connected to a bottle of water. This setup allows gases to escape while preventing oxygen from entering, creating the anaerobic conditions required for fermentation.

Once fermentation is complete, the coffee is moved outside and dried on raised beds as a Natural Process coffee.

To understand what cold processing contributes to flavour, we can compare it with beer production. Many beers, such as traditional British ales or Saisons, are fermented warm, whereas lagers are cold fermented. Warmer fermentation encourages faster microbial activity, producing flavours more quickly but often generating stronger and less refined fermentation characteristics.

Cold fermentation tends to be slower but creates a cleaner and more controlled flavour profile. The same principle applies to coffee. By lowering the fermentation temperature, producers can create greater clarity and definition in the cup while retaining the benefits of anaerobic processing.

Want to know more about anaerobic processing? Check out our article here: Anaerobic Fermentation Coffee Explained.

• Country: Nicaragua
• Community: El Arenal
• Department: Matagalpa
• Producer: Fincas Mierisch
• Farm Owner: Alejandro Saldaña
• Farm Manager: Jaime Sevilla
• Elevation: 1,350-1,450 m.a.s.l.
• Coffee Area: 15 hectares
• Protected Rainforest: 20 hectares
• Variety: Orange Bourbon
• Processing Method: Cold Fermented Natural
• Harvest Months: December-March
• Diurnal Temperature: Average High 21°C, Low 15°C

Cupping Notes: Candyfloss, pink grape, hibiscus

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean Cup: 7/8
• Sweetness: 7/8
• Acidity: 6.5/8
• Mouthfeel: 6.5/8
• Flavour: 6.5/8
• Aftertaste: 6/8
• Balance: 6.5/8
• Overall: 7/8
• Correction: +36
• Total: 89/100

If you'd like to find out more about how we score coffees, make sure to read our blog post What Do Coffee Cupping Scores Actually Mean?.

Light Medium - Get the coffee steadily through first crack but not too far into development, keeping that vibrant sweetness front and centre.