The original owners of Finca La Victoria first planted coffee in 1872. In the following years, most of their coffee made its way into regional blends after being sold to larger estates in the region. Mario Martin Lovo and his wife, Nelly, purchased the farm in 2007, not knowing at the time that it had once belonged to his great grandmother, Helena. Since then, the Lovos bought smaller parcels nearby, increasing the size of the farm to nearly 60 hectares. Along with growing the size of the farm, the Lovos have made steady improvements and renovations over the years. In 2019, Mario planted Java seeds that have finally begun to bear fruit.
The Java variety’s history in Latin America is inextricably linked to Nicaragua. So much so that the variety is often referred to as ‘Javanica’ in the region. The variety is believed to have been brought directly from Ethiopia to the island of Java by Dutch traders in the 19th century. By the mid-20th century, seeds were brought to Cameroon by breeders experimenting with its resistance to Coffee Berry Disease (CBD), a common blight across Africa. Later, in the early 90s, coffee breeder Benoit Bertrand brought seeds directly from Cameroon to a network of Central American researchers called PROMECAFE though it was never officially released. It’s not entirely clear how the variety began making its way onto farms in Nicaragua, and later throughout the region, but genetic testing has since confirmed that the Java being produced today matches the older seedstock used for breeding research. Java is not the most hardy or high yielding variety available to farmers today, but for some the potential for excellent quality is worth the trade off.
