Similar to Guatemala and El Salvador, Nicaragua is recovering from a civil war followed by hurricane Mitch in 1998. Nicaraguan, coffees are only now becoming known again in the United States owing to the long interruption of the cold war years when Nicaraguan coffee was not allowed to be imported into the United States.

The Jinotega, Matagalpa, and Segovia regions produce the best-known Nicaragua coffees. As various estates and cooperatives begin to establish their identities in the North American specialty market they will probably reveal coffees in the standard Central America mode: fragrant, complex, with a nut and vanilla bouquet, moderately acidy and medium in body. Jinotega and Segovia coffees occasionally display a bigger, bolder acidity. Most Nicaragua coffee is shade grown. The highest grade is Strictly High Grown. Coffees from the Selva Negra estate have established an excellent reputation in the American specialty market, as have the often splendidly full, chocolate-toned coffees from the Prodocoop cooperative mill in the Segovia region.