Finca Los Pinos is located in the Arenal Nature Reserve in Matagalpa and is renowned internationally among coffee-lovers for its ‘Maracaturra’ brand of coffee. Owned and managed by Byron Corrales, Finca Los Pinos is committed to organic farming principles and is quoted as saying that “behind every cup (of coffee) there is a forest, a river to protect, a climate to preserve, many hardworking hands, and a planet to care for.” Producing organic coffee since 1986, located in the high mountains of the nature reserve “El Arenal” in Aranjuez, Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
Family Corrales has four generations of coffee growers, preserving the best practices that have enabled them to achieve a distinctive and outstanding flavor. They continue to use the methods of cultivation used by our past generations. Byron Corrales is famous in many coffee circles for his development of a unique hybrid coffee variety called Maracaturra. The Maracaturra coffee was developed by combining the Caturra and Maragogype varieties, which produced an above-averaged sized bean with an incredibly unique (and delicious) flavor profile.
Welcome to my Table, here in the corner of this cafe. Today we’re sipping the Nicaragua Finca Los Pinos, from Tinker Coffee Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Feel free to pull up a chair.
THEDETAILS
origin: Aranjuez, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
farm: Finca Los Pinos
producer: Byron Corrales
association: N/A
elevation: 1500 meters above sea level
cultivars: Maracaturra
process: natural
certifications: standard
CUPPINGNOTES
The aroma of the Nicaragua Finca Los Pinos is intensely sugary sweet, fruity, and bright. In fact, it’s really not all that unlike Froot Loops cereal, and it surges out of the packaging as soon as I open up the bag. Vanilla, honey, tropical fruit, and mixed berries.
Taking my first few sips of the coffee, the flavor follows the nose—very sweet and fruity. It’s not as lively and bright as the aroma suggested it would be, though, and I think that’s due to its roast profile. It’s not over-roasted at all, but it was definitely a bit more fully developed than I thought it would be. This coffee is pretty full-bodied and features a creamy mouthfeel that coats the tongue; that creaminess is accentuated and informed by flavors of vanilla and honey (further sugary sweetness is attributed to brown sugar and angel food cake naunces). There’s also a flood of strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, kiwi, apple, and chocolate-covered cherry. Even further flavors of earth, oak, and red wine tannins add some interesting complexities and a bit more dimension.
Full body; creamy mouthfeel; citric acidity; clean finish
FINALTHOUGHTS
You don’t often come across naturally processed coffees from Nicaragua, so I’m really glad Tinker Coffee Company sent their Nicaragua Finca Los Pinos my way. I was really impressed with it—loads of flavor, a bit of complexity, and a profile that set it apart from other naturally processed coffees that are more readily available. It was sugary sweet, fruity, and creamy, but it had some other nuances (like oak and earth) that made it really unique—not as one-dimensional as naturals from, say, Ethiopia.
Furthermore, the Finca Los Pinos had tons of depth. While many naturals collapse as they cool, this one just kept going and going, becoming more and more pleasurable to drink the closer to room temperature it got. To be honest, I enjoyed it most when it was at room temperature (which makes me think this coffee would be dynamite over ice).
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Andrew is a husband, father, dog lover, craft beverage enthusiast, content creator, and niche market Internet celebrity. Formerly of A Table in the Corner of the Cafe and The Pulitzer Project and contributor to Barista Magazine and Mental Floss, he’s been writing on the Internet for years.