In 2016, Project Origin founder Saša Šestić teamed up with coffee producer Claudia Lovo and several coffee professionals to purchase Finca El Árbol in the Dipilto region of Nicaragua. The name means ‘the tree’ and was aptly chosen for the giant tree that dominates the centre of the farm. The goal here was to transform El Árbol from a commodity coffee farm to one that could produce high quality, specialty coffee in a fully organic way. With Claudia’s guidance, the farm has been transformed from an overgrown commodity farm to a well-maintained sanctuary for flora, fauna, the local community, and specialty coffee. The farm grows a range of coffee varietals and has been the source of many innovations and experiments in processing techniques, including carbonic maceration techniques. Claudia is also one of the founders of Bridazul, and together since 2019, Project Origin and Bridazul have collaborated on a joint initiative committed to improving the livelihoods and incomes of coffee producers in Nueva Segovia through improvement of farming practices and implementation of a range of carbonic maceration processing techniques. Finca El Árbol features CM processed coffee through this collaboration and offers its infrastructure to other local producers across Dipilto so they too can take advantage of the carbonic maceration processing techniques for their own cherries.

About Bridazul

Claudia Lovo is one of the founders of our local partners in Nicaragua, Bridazul. ‘Brid’ commonly refers to a cable tie or clamp, but a more general meaning is ‘to tie’ or ‘to connect’. ‘Azul’ means blue and is the dominant colour on the Nicaraguan flag. The combination of these words is used to symbolise the connection between what happens at a coffee farm with the end user and being able to trace and understand every step along the way. Bridazul is committed to securing fair value for producers through considering the cost of production and quality of the coffee and commits to not selling coffees in a way that loses money for the producers, as this is not sustainable long term. Simultaneously, where coffee quality is high but cost of production is not, the pricing is not exaggerated unnecessarily. This helps build relationships between buyers and producers that are mutually beneficial long term, where both parties can feel secure and justified in their part of the sale. Founders of Bridazul, Claudia and Tim, work with producers to encourage connection, community and information sharing. By doing this, they aim to help producers throughout Dipilto to increase the quality of their coffees and provide more for their communities.