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.
