Aspen Coffee Co

Nicaragua El Quetzal Yellow Catuai

A washed Yellow Catuaí from Finca El Quetzal in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Honey-like sweetness and defined citrus are supported by a silky body and an exceptionally clean finish, with notes of almond and toasted sugar emerging as the cup cools. Lightly roasted to preserve its clarity, balance, and quiet complexity.

$20

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Why this coffee

The story behind the cup.

Overview

Nicaragua El Quetzal Yellow Catuai

Aspen Coffee Co

Overview

Nicaragua El Quetzal Yellow Catuai

Aspen Coffee Co

01 / Overview

Nicaragua El Quetzal Yellow Catuai

This is a clean, balanced coffee with a lot of subtlety. The sweetness reminds us of honey, while a soft melon note gives the cup a light, refreshing fruit character. As it cools, the black tea becomes more noticeable, adding structure and a clean finish. Nothing about this coffee is overly intense. The body is smooth and silky, the acidity is gentle, and the flavors stay clear without becoming sharp or heavy. We roast it on the lighter side to preserve that balance and keep the cup expressive. It works especially well as a pour over, where the honey, melon, and black tea notes have room to open up. This is an easy coffee to drink every day, but there is still plenty to notice when you slow down and pay attention.

02 / Producer

Meet the Producer

Finca El Quetzal is a fourth-generation family coffee estate located in the highlands north of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The Bendaña McEwan family’s coffee story began in 1947 with Esteban McEwan and has continued for nearly 80 years. Today, the family operates several estates, a dedicated processing facility, and a direct-trade business connecting its coffees with roasters around the world. El Quetzal was developed into a modern coffee estate by Dr. Frank Bendaña Radzevich, known as Don Paco. Trained in plant physiology and soil science, Don Paco brought a scientific approach to farming in Nicaragua. He introduced new varieties, improved production systems, and helped establish El Quetzal as one of the country’s most productive coffee farms. In the 1990s, the family shifted its focus from high-volume, sun-grown production toward quality-focused, shade-grown specialty coffee. That transition continues to shape the estate today. The farm is now managed by Don Paco’s daughter, Ana Patricia Bendaña McEwan, known as Doña Ana. Before returning to coffee, she spent more than 40 years working in healthcare and community service. She brings that same care and attention to the farm, its workers, and the surrounding community of Laguna Verde. Her daughter Ana Bendaña and Ana’s husband, Justin Sieve, founded El Quetzal Coffee Co. in 2023 to continue the family’s direct-trade relationships and bring greater transparency to how the coffee is grown, processed, and shared. The operation supports approximately 60 year-round employees and as many as 300 workers during the harvest, making coffee an important source of long-term employment in the surrounding area.

03 / Origin

Where it comes from

Nicaragua has a long history of coffee production, particularly in the mountainous northern departments of Matagalpa, Jinotega, and Nueva Segovia. This coffee comes from Finca El Quetzal in Matagalpa, where it grows at more than 1,200 meters above sea level. Coffees grown at this elevation are classified as Strictly High Grown or Strictly Hard Bean, terms that describe the dense coffee seeds produced by slower cherry development in cooler conditions. El Quetzal sits within a cloud-forest environment where temperatures remain relatively mild and humidity stays high throughout much of the year. The estate follows a north-to-south valley, creating meaningful differences in sunlight, wind exposure, shade, and temperature across the farm. The landscape is made up of bowls, ridges, and shelves shaped by the region’s volcanic geology. Even parcels separated by only a few hundred meters can experience different growing conditions and develop their own cup characteristics. Matagalpa coffees are often associated with sweetness, balance, and chocolate-forward profiles. At El Quetzal, the elevation and cooler microclimate add greater clarity and structure, allowing delicate citrus and honey-like sweetness to emerge alongside the region’s more familiar comforting flavors.

04 / Process

How it was processed

This is a fully washed coffee. After the Yellow Catuaí cherries are harvested, the outer skin and fruit are removed using a depulper. The seeds are then fermented to break down the sticky mucilage that remains around them before being washed clean with water. Removing the fruit before drying creates a coffee that reflects its variety and growing conditions more directly. Compared with natural or honey processing, washed coffees generally show greater clarity, more defined acidity, and a cleaner finish. Harvesting Yellow Catuaí requires particular attention. Unlike red coffee cherries, its fruit ripens to a yellow color that can be more difficult to judge by appearance alone. Experienced pickers learn to look at the sheen of the skin and feel the weight and firmness of the cherry to determine when it has reached the proper level of ripeness. That precision matters. When Yellow Catuaí is harvested too early, the coffee can taste quiet or underdeveloped. When picked too late, it can become heavier and lose some of its definition. Picking at the right moment preserves the variety’s restrained sweetness, lively citrus, and silky texture. After wet processing, the coffee is transported to Beneficio San Miguel Arcángel, the Bendaña McEwan family’s dry mill. There, the parchment coffee is carefully dried, sorted, classified, cupped, and prepared for export with traceability maintained from the farm through the finished green coffee.

05 / Roast

How we roast it

We roast this coffee on the lighter side to preserve the clarity and restraint that make Yellow Catuaí distinctive. The goal is to develop enough sweetness to bring out its honey, almond, and toasted-sugar qualities without covering the coffee’s delicate citrus or clean structure with heavier roast flavors. A lighter roast keeps the body silky rather than dense and allows the acidity to remain bright and clearly defined. The coffee feels lively, but not sharp, with each part of the cup staying controlled and in balance. This style of roasting also allows the coffee to change as it cools. Citrus and honey-like sweetness are more noticeable when the cup is hot, while almond and toasted sugar gradually become more apparent at lower temperatures. Pour over brewing is an especially good fit because it emphasizes the coffee’s clarity and lets those quieter flavors unfold. It also works well as a clean, balanced batch brew for anyone who prefers sweetness and structure over heavier body or intense fruit character.