ICYMI: We’re obsessive about our ingredients: where they’re grown and who grows them. So we searched nonstop to find the best in quality, and most ethically sourced, coffee – we found it at Vega Coffee in Nicaragua.

Noushin Ketabi, co-founder of Vega Coffee

See the Story Behind Our Coffee

95% of Vega’s farmers and roasters are women. Vega pays their farmers double the minimum wage, which helps them transform their lives and communities.

Cupping (v.)

The formal process of tasting coffee and evaluating its attributes.

Q Grader (n.)

Kind of like a sommelier, but for coffee.

Oro (n.)

Literally translates to “gold.” In the coffee industry it refers to green coffee ready to be roasted.

Quintal (n.)

A 100lb sack of coffee and the unit used to buy and sell coffee.

Co-ops (n.)

A group of farmers that invests in infrastructure in order to sell coffee on a communal basis.

Pergamino (n.)

Coffee that is fully dried, but still in the husk, which needs to be removed before roasting.

COFFEE SLANG 101

Good ingredients matter. Who farms them, where they're grown, and what makes them better.


Why Our Coffee Is So Dang Special

THE SOIL: This part of Nicaragua receives more than 9 feet of rainfall each year, making the soil super fertile and perfect for growing coffee. 

ORGANIC: No chemicals ever, so obviously Vega coffee was the perfect match.

TOP GRADE: Vega is fair trade coffee and in the top 2% of quality in the world, when tested by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

Our Farmers Earn 4x More Per Pound

This is because they roast and distribute their own crops. Unlike most coffee, Vega’s beans are shipped right after roasting and frozen for the freshest, most flavorful bean. Here’s how it works:

The Power of Women

How Coffee Becomes Coffee

Green Fruit

Coffee beans start as a fruit - cherries actually - and like most fruit, are green before ripening.

Red Fruit

November is when the cherries begin to ripen on the coffee plants. Farmers spend the next three months picking the best and brightest.

Depulping

Once picked, the cherries are depulped, meaning the coffee bean is removed from the fruit.

Drying

The coffee beans spend 24-36 hours fermenting in the sweet layer of honey that naturally coats them. They are then fully washed and set out to dry.

Roasting

Beans are roasted to perfection, checked for any that might’ve been burned or broken, and then packed and shipped out the next day.

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