We first tasted coffee from Cinco de Junio in 2009, when a graduate student working with the Fabretto Children’s Foundation sent us an unexpectedly delicious sample from one of the co-op's producers. That producer's coffee took second place in the 2010 Cup of Excellence Nicaragua! Later that same year, we visited Las Sabanas and have worked closely with Cinco de Junio ever since.
During the 2012–2013 harvest season, an outbreak of a fungus called Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) devastated farms throughout Central America. The Cinco de Junio cooperative’s producers were hit hard, and their yields and quality suffered. We continued to support them, incorporating their coffee into year-round products such as Big Trouble, Forty-Six, and Fast Forward. In addition, they initiated multiple projects funded by our Seeds grant program to help its members upgrade their farms and wet mills.
Year after year, the co-op maximizes its limited resources, never losing sight of its goal to produce some of Nicaragua's highest-quality, organically grown coffee. In the 2018–2019 harvest season, Cinco de Junio hired a talented cupper to taste members' coffee deliveries. This allows the co-op to blend lots based on cup quality and provide individualized feedback to each member. This type of support has been a game-changer for the co-op. Today, Cinco de Junio is attracting new members and investing in critical infrastructure that will allow them to grow sustainably without compromising quality. These investments have led to some of the best coffees from the group since the CLR crisis hit. We're thrilled to see their persistence and hard work pay off, resulting in an annual cornerstone of our single-origin menu.
