Dr. Enrique Ferrufino, a surgeon by trade, was born and raised on a coffee farm in the mountains of Matagalpa in 1956. Together with his wife Silvia, a pediatrician, the Ferrufino family decided to go into the coffee business in 1992 and bought Finca Aurora in 2004.
They inspired in their three children a love for coffee from a very early age. Since they acquired Finca Aurora, the whole family has worked together to produce great coffee. This Parainema lot, a dwarf variety from the Sarchimor family, is fruity and chocolatey with stone fruit.
One of the core values of the business is to inspire people through coffee. Throughout the years they have invested in providing workers with fair wages, safe living conditions, health services, food and education. They also work with smaller producers in the area to help them improve their farming practices.
Preserving nature is a top priority for the Ferrufino family. They only use renewable energy and work diligently on conserving water resources and natural habitats. The farm houses a variety of native trees, home to many species of birds and wildlife. These trees also provide the plantation with shade and fertilize the soils with organic matter, which protects the land from erosion, droughts and floods.
After selective handpicking, cherry is lightly fermented for 36 hours before being laid to dry on drying beds or patios on the farm. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 25 days for cherry to dry.
Finca Aurora is one of the first farms in Nicaragua with a fully integrated coffee operation on-site. They produce, wash and dry the coffee at the farm. The coffee is milled, sorted and bagged at Beneficio Finca Aurora under the watchful eye of the farm’s team. This allows full control over the quality throughout the process.
Parainema was first bred by IHCAFE (Instituto Hondureño del Café) in the 1980s. Part of the Sarchimor family, Parainema is coffee leaf rust (CLR) resistant. It does well at medium altitude and is a dwarf plant, which allows farmers to plant trees more densely to maximize yield per hectare.
RFA stands for Rainforest Alliance, a certification system that emphasizes climate-smart agriculture. RFA farms have at least 40% of land covered in canopy, significant species diversity (at least 12 native tree species per hectare, on average) and a system of natural vegetation buffers between agricultural land and bodies of water. The farms also use organic fertilizers.