Selva Negra Activities - Coffee Tours

Selva Negra's shaded coffee plantation
The coffee tours at Selva Negra are an excellent opportunity for you to learn all about the most popular morning drink in the world. You will be amazed about how much goes into delivering that fresh cup of morning coffee.

The plantation

Guests can jump in a truck with Eddy or Mausi Kühl and visit the plantation to see the coffee trees and how they grow. Selva Negra is what is refered to a "shaded coffee plantation". In general this means that coffee grows within the protection of the shade of the trees, at Selva Negra the trees that protect our coffee is mostly made up of old indigenous trees of the area.

The coffee harvest season at Selva Negra is from mid-November to mid-February. If you visit the resort during this time, you will be in great luck.

Since you will be able to see the picking of the coffee, which is a manual intensive process where each individual coffee cherry is picked from the tree one at a time, careful to only remove the ripe red cherries.

The coffee flower

Around May is coffee flowering time. This is the one time that it snows in Nicaragua, or at least it sure looks like it around the coffee plantation. Whatever time you pick to visit Selva Negra, there is a lot to learn and see at the coffee plantation.

The processingmill "Beneficio"

The coffee processing mill also known as a Beneficio is located just down the hill from the resort. This is where most of the action takes place. The coffee cherries are received from the plantation and they undergo a lenghtly process starting with washing the cherries. We use a low water utilization system to wash the cherries, this is one of the many sustainable efforts that take place in the processing of the coffee.

In the beneficio tour you will see the washing process which involves a level of grading the coffee to exclude lower quality coffee beans. The fermantation bins and process, the "waterfall" washing of the beans after fermentation, here again another grading method is used to exclude lower quality beans.

CoffeeMachinery

Coffee Drying
The coffee beans are finally laid out to dry on elevated wooden trays. This is a very old system of drying the beans, but it is also one of the best since the beans have an opportunity to dry from the top and the bottom. The beans are only left to dry by the beneficio for a day or two. Since Selva Negra is located over 4000 ft elevation in the mountains, the temparuture is quick moist and cool, and doesn't offer the best drying conditions. The beans are taken, via truck to our drying facilities in the valley of Sebaco, where it rarely rains, and the sun almost always shines. There is A LOT more that goes on in the preparation of the coffee, refer to the Selva Negra Coffee Estate from the seed to the cup page to learn more about the process, but the best way is to visit. This is not only for the coffee drinker, but also for the coffee buyer, roaster and retailer. We highly encourage all to visit an estate to learn about the process and about the places where your morning drink comes from.

Interviews and Training Sessions

Selva Negra's coffee processing facilities have served as educational facilities for various local coffee farmers learning the sustainable practices that Selva Negra incorporates in every step of the coffee life cycle. Eddy Kühl has been hosted many shows explaining our process, and Mausi Hayn has lead many of these training sessions.

Eddy Kühl giving an interview in the processing mill

The SCAA group visiting Selva Negra

Gourmet coffee buyers learning more about
the coffee they buy

Selva Negra had the opportunity to host the 1997 SCAA International tour. We have also invited and been visited by many coffee buyers from around the world.

Contact Us | Directions

Selva Negra Mountain Resort and Coffee Estate
Km 140 Highway Matagalpa-Jinotega, Nicaragua telefax: 011-505-772-3883

http://www.selvanegra.com
resortinfo@selvanegra.com


Selva Negra's shaded coffee plantation	The coffee tours at Selva Negra are an excellent opportunity for you to learn all about the most popular morning drink in the world. You will be amazed about how much goes into delivering that fresh cup of morning coffee. The plantation Guests can jump in a truck with Eddy or Mausi Kühl and visit the plantation to see the coffee trees and how they grow. Selva Negra is what is refered to a "shaded coffee plantation". In general this means that coffee grows within the protection of the shade of the trees, at Selva Negra the trees that protect our coffee is mostly made up of old indigenous trees of the area. The coffee harvest season at Selva Negra is from mid-November to mid-February. If you visit the resort during this time, you will be in great luck.
Since you will be able to see the picking of the coffee, which is a manual intensive process where each individual coffee cherry is picked from the tree one at a time, careful to only remove the ripe red cherries.			The coffee flower
Around May is coffee flowering time. This is the one time that it snows in Nicaragua, or at least it sure looks like it around the coffee plantation. Whatever time you pick to visit Selva Negra, there is a lot to learn and see at the coffee plantation.
The processingmill "Beneficio" The coffee processing mill also known as a Beneficio is located just down the hill from the resort. This is where most of the action takes place. The coffee cherries are received from the plantation and they undergo a lenghtly process starting with washing the cherries. We use a low water utilization system to wash the cherries, this is one of the many sustainable efforts that take place in the processing of the coffee. In the beneficio tour you will see the washing process which involves a level of grading the coffee to exclude lower quality coffee beans. The fermantation bins and process, the "waterfall" washing of the beans after fermentation, here again another grading method is used to exclude lower quality beans.			CoffeeMachinery
Coffee Drying	The coffee beans are finally laid out to dry on elevated wooden trays. This is a very old system of drying the beans, but it is also one of the best since the beans have an opportunity to dry from the top and the bottom. The beans are only left to dry by the beneficio for a day or two. Since Selva Negra is located over 4000 ft elevation in the mountains, the temparuture is quick moist and cool, and doesn't offer the best drying conditions. The beans are taken, via truck to our drying facilities in the valley of Sebaco, where it rarely rains, and the sun almost always shines. There is A LOT more that goes on in the preparation of the coffee, refer to the Selva Negra Coffee Estate from the seed to the cup page to learn more about the process, but the best way is to visit. This is not only for the coffee drinker, but also for the coffee buyer, roaster and retailer. We highly encourage all to visit an estate to learn about the process and about the places where your morning drink comes from.
Interviews and Training Sessions Selva Negra's coffee processing facilities have served as educational facilities for various local coffee farmers learning the sustainable practices that Selva Negra incorporates in every step of the coffee life cycle. Eddy Kühl has been hosted many shows explaining our process, and Mausi Hayn has lead many of these training sessions.		Eddy Kühl giving an interview in the processing mill
The SCAA group visiting Selva Negra	Gourmet coffee buyers learning more about the coffee they buy
Selva Negra had the opportunity to host the 1997 SCAA International tour. We have also invited and been visited by many coffee buyers from around the world.