Coffee in Nicaragua

Nicaragua’s coffee comes from the north. In the green highlands of Jinotega, Matagalpa and Las Segovias, near the border with Honduras, growers produce about 2.5 million bags a year of mostly Caturra arabica, and in 2025 the country earned a record from it. It has done so in hard times: the collapse of its biggest exporter, the emigration of hundreds of thousands of people, and leaf rust. Here’s how much, where, when and where it goes.

The short version

• About 2.4–2.6 million bags a year; over 95% arabica.
• Jinotega and Matagalpa grow about 78%; Las Segovias about 14%.
• Mostly Caturra, on 72% of the arabica area.
• Record exports of US$918 million in 2025.
• About 45,000 growers, many of them on small farms.
• Robusta only since 2013, on the Caribbean coast.

How much coffee does Nicaragua grow?

About 2.5 million bags. USDA’s figures, for a coffee year from October to September:

Coffee year	Arabica	Robusta	Total	Exports
2024/25	2.50 million	160,000	2.66 million	2.57 million
2025/26 (estimate)	2.40 million	160,000	2.56 million	2.42 million
2026/27 (forecast)	2.30 million	140,000	2.44 million	2.25 million

Source: USDA, May 2026.

Nicaragua counts in quintales of about 45 kg. Its figures, and the others, don’t always agree:

Measure	Figure	Source
Exports, 2025	3.3 million quintales, US$918.2 million	Central Bank of Nicaragua
Exports, 2024/25	3.18 million quintales, US$862 million	Central Bank, via Agrolatam
Exports, 2023/24	2.71 million quintales, US$525 million	Agrolatam
Area	143,000 ha	USDA
Area	164,500 ha	Conatradec, the national coffee commission
Area	200,000 ha (2019)	AFP

The government’s goal for the 2025-26 harvest was 3.3 million quintales. USDA expects a smaller 2026/27 crop because of a likely El Niño drought and a 25% rise in fertiliser prices.

Where is coffee grown in Nicaragua?

In the north. More than 85% of the arabica farms are in Jinotega, Matagalpa and Nueva Segovia, at 365–1,500 metres, USDA says; the rest is grown in Carazo and around Managua, on the Pacific side. By share of the crop:

Region	Share of production	Source
Jinotega and Matagalpa	78%	AFP (2019); 78.4% in MAGFOR’s 2005/06 report
Las Segovias (Nueva Segovia, Madriz, Estelí)	14%	AFP (2019); MAGFOR (2005/06)
Pacific side: Carazo, around Managua	The rest	USDA; MAGFOR (2005/06)

Jinotega is the biggest department, followed by Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia and Madriz, the agriculture ministry found; together they grew about 91% of the 2005/06 crop. No newer breakdown by department is published online.

Robusta is new: the government opened the Caribbean coast and the Pacific lowlands to it only in 2013, and it grows on about 7,000 hectares, mostly near Nueva Guinea in the southern Caribbean region. It stalled after its main promoter, the Mercon Coffee Group, went bankrupt in 2023, USDA says.

The coffee

Caturra covers 72% of the arabica area, USDA says, followed by Bourbon, Paca, Catuaí, Catimor, Maragogype and Pacamara. Since the leaf rust outbreak of 2013/14, growers have replanted about 20,000 hectares, increasingly with newer varieties such as Marsellesa, Parainema, Costa Rica 95, IH Café 90 and Lempira. In 2019 French researchers at CIRAD released Starmaya, a rust-resistant hybrid developed on Nicaraguan test plots, Wikipedia says.

Most of Nicaragua’s arabica is speciality coffee that is not sold as such, the speciality coffee association, ACEN, told AFP in 2019. The government now promotes it through competitions such as the Cup of Excellence, the Taza Dorada and the Evento de los Maragos, and runs coffee schools in Jinotega, La Dalia, Matagalpa and Managua.

When is coffee harvested in Nicaragua?

The 2025-26 harvest was in full swing by the end-of-year holidays, when pickers return home and many don’t come back, Agrolatam reports, and the government formally closed it on 21 March 2026. The trees flower in about March and April, and a mid-summer dry spell, the canícula of July and August, can hurt the beans as they fill, USDA says.

Who grows Nicaraguan coffee?

About 45,000 growers, USDA says, and coffee employs about 330,000 people along the chain. In the 2011 agricultural census, farms with under 15 hectares of coffee were 71% of farms but grew 37% of the crop; large farms over 70 hectares were just 7% of farms but grew 36%.

Labour is short. More than 600,000 Nicaraguans, a tenth of the population, have left since 2018, USDA reports, and some Jinotega farms say they lose up to 40% of their crop for lack of pickers.

Where does Nicaraguan coffee go?

Destination	Bags, 2024/25
United States	895,066 (35%)
Belgium	470,917
Germany	221,633
Italy	89,933
Mexico	82,183
Canada	81,383

Source: Central Bank of Nicaragua, via USDA.

The European Union takes about 32%, and European buyers particularly want organic and Fair Trade coffee, USDA says. In 2023 the government confiscated Cisa Exportadora, the local arm of the bankrupt Mercon group, which had handled nearly half the national crop; exports fell that year, then recovered as other exporters expanded, Agrolatam reports.

A short history

• 1845: coffee growing began under José León Sandoval, in the hills near Managua, according to a history held by the Biblioteca Enrique Bolaños.
• 1850s–1870: large-scale growing began, and by 1870 coffee was Nicaragua’s main export, a position it held for a century, Wikipedia says.
• 1877: a subsidy of 5 cents a tree for planters of more than 5,000 trees drew American, British and German money to Matagalpa and Jinotega.
• 1980s: war made some northern farms, such as those around Dipilto, too dangerous to work.
• 2013: rust; a new coffee law with a renovation fund; robusta allowed.
• 2023: Cisa Exportadora confiscated.
• 2025: record export earnings of US$918 million.

How do Nicaraguans drink their coffee?

About 1.5 kg a person a year, USDA says, with younger city drinkers turning to roasted coffee in a growing number of cafés.

Nicaraguan coffee and other origins

• Coffee in Honduras: the neighbour to the north.
• Coffee in Guatemala: Central America’s profiled regions.
• The atlas: Nicaragua’s growing area on the map.