Nicaragua: La Huella, Striped Orange Bourbon

Nicaragua: La Huella, Striped Orange Bourbon

A fresh and vibrant medley of strawberries and passion fruit opens this elegant and complex cup, shifting into black grapes on the aftertaste. As it cools, the fruit sweetness comes to the fore, with delicate hints of orange and nectarine sitting behind those sweet strawberry notes.

This is our second year buying this Nicaraguan coffee, first tasted by chance on a visit to La Huella in 2024. It was love at first sip when Wingo mentioned they had experimentally separated some noticeably striped cherries off from the main Orange Bourbon harvest. There wasn’t enough for us to buy from that very first tiny picking, but Roland kept chasing to make sure we got some the next year, and we’ve now been able to buy this unique Washed Striped Orange Bourbon coffee again for 2026.

A farm in the clouds

All of the Mierisch Nicaraguan coffee farms are sprinkled across the Jinotega and Matagalpa regions in the north west of the country. They’re dotted up either side of the mountain range on the border of the 2 departments. La Huella is on the Matagalpa side, to the south. When Roland travels to visit the farms, generally he’ll see La Huella on the same day as Limoncillo and Mama Mina as they’re close to each other. You start at Mama Mina first, then through La Huella (with a stop for fresh tortillas for lunch at the wet mill in-between!) before heading on to Limoncillo, the biggest, to finish. La Huella is one of the youngest additions to our long relationship with the Mierisches, planted in 2014 in the misty hills of El Arenal.

La Huella mostly grows Java and Red Catuai, with a lower number of shade trees mixed in compared to other Mierisch farms. This is due to the overcast microclimate caused by the local geography - foggy clouds sit over the farm for much of the day, doing the job shade trees do elsewhere. So while most coffee farms need to add canopy, La Huella has to keep it deliberately sparse, or the plants don’t get enough light to thrive. They also grow a small collection of exotic coffee varietals here, including this Striped Orange Bourbon.

People

The very first of the Mierisch farms was founded in 1895 by German émigré Ernst Bruno Mierisch Boettiger. He was compensated by the Nicaraguan government for his engineering work on the construction of the pacific railroad between Masaya and Diriamba with a parcel of land - a gold mine and a farm he named “Sajonia” (the Spanish spelling of his home region back in Germany, Saxony). In 1908 he planted his first coffee tree, today Fincas Mierisch have 9 coffee farms in Nicaragua and 3 in Honduras. Over 100 years later the family business is now run by his grandson, Dr. Erwin Mierisch Buitrago (3rd generation), and great-great-grandson, Erwin “Wingo” Mierisch Jackman (5th generation).

Erick Lopez is the Agronomist at the head of the Mierisch farms, he started his career at the entry level 22 years ago with their team working in the fields. He showed talent and commitment, so they promoted him and financed his further education to enable him to move up to his current position. He now oversees most of the practical operation of the farms. The Fincas Mierisch team has an abundance of employees who have been with them for many years, their expertise and skill are what make the great quality of product and service they provide possible.

Processing

The family’s wet mill for La Huella is right on the edge of the farm, located in-between La Huella and Mama Mina. This is where coffee harvested from both farms is collected to be cleaned and floated to remove any over/under ripes and damaged beans. For Washed and Honey coffees the cherries are also de-pulped here as needed. The mill uses state-of-the-art eco-pulpers, which significantly reduce water usage while offering control over the amount of mucilage left on the bean, crucial for precise processing. All coffees (Naturals in cherry, Washed/Honeys in parchment) are then transported to the separat

Sourced from the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua, this lot represents the meticulous work of the Mierisch family. The coffee features the Striped Orange Bourbon varietal, a unique mutation that adds a layer of intrigue to the traditional Bourbon lineage. Processed using the washed method, this coffee highlights the inherent characteristics of the bean, allowing the vibrant profile—defined by notes of strawberries, passion fruit, black grapes, orange, and nectarine—to take center stage.

Roasted by Ozone Coffee, this selection showcases the potential of Nicaraguan production when paired with precise post-harvest handling. While washed coffees are often celebrated for their clean, bright acidity and structural clarity, the specific terroir of Matagalpa provides a distinct backdrop for these fruit-forward flavors. To better understand how these specific descriptors align with broader sensory profiles, you can explore the flavor wheel to identify the nuances within this complex cup.