La Estrella

Jetlag, glassy eyes, long drives. This is all forgotten as you arrive at sunny Ocotal at the foothills of the Neuva Segovia mountain ranges. After a short drive to the La Estrella mill you are greeted by many smiling faces, followed by hundreds of raised drying beds full of fresh coffee, all carefully being tended to. Most dry mills require coffee producers to fully dry their coffee parchment before delivery. La Estrella is unique in that coffee producers can pulp and wash their coffee and deliver it wet to be dried onsite at the dry mill. This came about when the Caravela team found many producers didn’t have adequate space or resources to dry coffee well. It was decided that this would be something they could offer. The producers now have more time to return home and continue the harvest, Caravela now has more control over strict dry processes and can improve quality and consistency on behalf of the producers and ultimately for us. The La Estrella lot we partner with is a blended lot that all producers in the Neuva Segovia contribute to and is an excellent representation of the subtle stone fruit acidity and hazelnut sweetness of this region. Producers have a range of Catuai, Caturra and Bourbon varietals, growing from 1200 to 1500 MASL in a range of different microclimates, some cloudy cooler regions with slower maturation and some sunny and bright on the border of Honduras. We have been buying La Estrella for 5 years now and are proud to call it a partnership coffee and have committed to buying every harvest from now on.