Nicaragua El Jaguar: Allegro’s Special Reserve

by JulieCraves on July 17, 2012

I’m so pleased and excited that Allegro Coffee’s latest Special Reserve selection is Nicaragua El Jaguar. This coffee is from the Jinotega farm of my friends Georges, Lili, and Jean-Yves Duriaux. This farm preserves a beautiful high-elevation cloud forest, grows coffee in over a dozen plots interspersed with managed forest, and is Rainforest Alliance certified. El Jaguar is has been designated as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International, and Georges and Lili conduct active bird research on the property.

My husband and I visited Finca El Jaguar last year, and wrote about the farm, coffee, and conservation efforts here at Coffee & Conservation. I also wrote about our visit, focusing more on the birds and habitat, at my other site Net Results, and about a dragonfly survey we did there on Urban Dragon Hunters. Since we visited, the bird list has grown to 291 species, including many North American breeding migrants.

Each quarter, Allegro Coffee (the wholly-owned coffee subsidiary of Whole Foods Markets) highlights an exceptional, limited-release coffee through their Special Reserve Program, and awards the producer $10,000. Nobody could be more deserving than Georges, Lili, and Jean-Yves. They will use their award to help purchase a new wet mill which will process coffee much more efficiently — a current day’s production in two hours — using less water.  This faster processing also improves coffee quality.

Allegro Coffee is the exclusive buyer of El Jaguar coffee. It’s available at your local Whole Foods Market. Please try this Nicaragua El Jaguar Special Reserve. You’ll be supporting coffee producers who are genuine bird conservationists that truly care about growing coffee in harmony with birds and wildlife, as well a roaster who also strives for sustainability and responsibility in their supply chain and business model.

Revised on January 7, 2022

Posted in Retail and specialty roasters

Cecilia October 25, 2012 at 10:00 pm

Hi,

Do you know where I can purchase more of this coffee. They don’t have it at wholefoods any more :-( I am gutted – this is the best coffee I’ve ever had. I wish I knew it was limited – I would have stocked up!

Thank you!
Cecilia

JACraves October 26, 2012 at 6:01 am

Cecilia, Allegro/Whole Foods is El Jaguar’s exclusive buyer — that was the whole crop for the year, so we will all have to wait for next year. Be sure to let Allegro know how much you liked it so they continue to support the growers!

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