Salvador El Cerro
The Farm
Finca el Cerro is run by Fernando Leto Escobar who is the fifth generation in his family to work on the farm. Coffee farming has been in his family for over 150 years and the farm grows and processes its own coffee as they own a small organic business where they process their coffees. El Cerro is located in the Llamatepec mountain range at an altitude of 1,400 – 1,500 meters above sea level.
Process
The harvest is selective, meaning that the cherries are picked at their optimum point of ripeness. They are then taken to the pulper to remove the pulp and skin, and then the cherries with the mucilage layer are left exposed to the sun for 18-20 days, thus carrying out the Red Honey process.
Origin
At a height between 500 and 2.365 meters above sea level, the coffee-growing area of Apaneca-Ilamatepec, the largest in El Salvador, is located where the largest farms in the country are situated. It is relatively close to the cities of Santa Ana and Ahuachapán, but away from the hustle and bustle.
The wind of the mountain blows cradling an infinite variety of floral, medicinal plants and centenary trees that shade the coffee bushes. This region has been for approximately two centuries the coffee cradle of Salvadoran high altitude coffees. Now, it also has been baptized as “The route of flowers”.
Annual rains vary from 1.800 to 2.300 mm and temperatures from 12 °C and 29 °C. The main varieties grown here are Bourbon, Pacas, and other Bourbon derivatives. Salvadoran coffee growers are very attached to the Bourbon variety. Producers, even in the face of coffee rust, are loyal to this variety known for its great body and sweetness. They believe that this variety is what makes a distinctively Salvadoran coffee.
Cultivated on a small scale in the first half of the nineteenth century, since the first Cup of Excellence in 2003, which Salvador Sans was part of as an international judge, the country managed to quintuple the production of specialty coffees and put Salvadoran coffees on the map.
The cups are typically dense in body, creamy, and very sweet. High altitude Salvadoran coffee also expresses a slight citric acidity in the form of lemon and lime. The process experiments in El Salvador are creating very unique microlotes, introducing notes of strawberries and blackberries to the cup along with the other special attributes.
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