Finca San Jose occupies approximately 70 hectares on El Salvador’s’ Santa Ana Volcano, in the Canton of Los Naranjos, Juayua, Sonsonate. Around 56 hectares of the farm is planted under coffee and the remainder of the land is reserved as natural cloud forest. The high altitude here combined with the cool climate makes for the perfect conditions for coffee farming.

The Specs

Farm: Finca San Jose
Varietal(s): 100% Pacamara
Processing: Fully Washed
Altitude: 1400 to 1650 Masl
Owner: Montana Estates, S.A. De C.V.
Town: Los Naranjo, Juayua
Region: Sonsonate
Prize: #13 El Salvador Cup Of Excellence (2018)

El Salvador – Finca San Jose

What is CoE?

The Cup of Excellence is an annual competition held in several countries to identify the highest quality coffees produced. The competitions began in 1999 and by 2018 they were held in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Burundi, and Rwanda. Each coffee is tested at least five times and only those coffees that get high scores continuously move forward in the competition. The final winners are awarded the Cup of Excellence and sold via an auction to the highest bidder.

The Farm and farmers

Finca San Jose was established in the late 1890s by the Ruffatti family, one of El Salvador’s foundational coffee farming families. In 2005, the farm was almost entirely destroyed by ash from the nearby Santa Ana volcano eruption. In 2013, Federico Pacas (who had for many years managed the farm) and his family purchased it, adding it to the small but significant Café Tuxpal Estate: sister farms are Santa Petrona and Vista Hermosa, both of which have substantial speciality coffee reputations.

Upon buying the farm, one of the first things the family did was begin renovation – both because it was necessary and also to increase the farm’s potential for speciality coffee. Due to their efforts, the farm is now divided into 10 different micro-plots, each of which is differentiated by a coffee variety.

Harvesting and Processing

All coffee from the farm is carefully harvested by hand and meticulously sorted before being delivered for processing to the farm’s own wet mill – Beneficio Tuxpal. Here, a second sorting takes place. After this, the coffee is pulped and then left to ferment in clean tanks for 36 hours, before being fully washed and delivered to dry on African beds.

Conclusion

This is our highest quality coffee on offer at the moment.  Cup of Excellence coffees are grown, harvested and processed with the highest level of attention to detail. This is certainly reflected in the cup.

In the cup expect currant, wild honey and plums with a medium round body and complex, tropical fruit acidity.

This lot was produced by 3 smallholder farmers: Alindor Mirez, Luciano Mendoza & Jaime Marino Guevara. The lot name ‘La Palma’ was chosen as it is the town closest to the farms of all three producers. The farms are small, at around 3 hectares each, and are named after trees that grow within their confines: La Naranja (the Orange Tree), El Laurel (the Laurel) and El Nispero (the Saspodilla).

Around 50% of this lot is composed of coffee produced by Alindor Mirez, a small scale producer who has been farming coffee all his life in this region. For all three, coffee is their main economic activity. They are very committed to improving their understanding of quality so that they can place his coffee on the speciality market. Santuario supports them in these efforts.

All three use the same strict harvest and processing methods so as to ensure that the natural potential of their coffee is maintained. During the harvest, coffee is selectively handpicked with only the ripest cherries being harvested at each pass. These cherries are then hand-sorted to ensure no underripe or damaged cherries make it into the fermentation tanks. The coffee is pulped on the same day that it is picked. After pulping, it will then ferment in a tin or cement tank for up to 30 to 40 hours before being washed clean in pure water.

The specs:

Farms: El Nispero, La Naranja & El Laurel
Varietal(s): Yellow Caturra, Bourbon, Pache & Typica
Processing: Fully washed & dried on patios & finished in African beds
Altitude: 1,850 to 1,900 metres above sea level
Owner: Alindor Mirez, Luciano Mendoza & Jaime Marino Guevara
Town: La Palma, Chirinos
Region: Cajamarca
Country: Peru
Total size of farms: 9 hectares total
Area under coffee: 9 hectares total
Certification: Organic

Peru La Palma – the farmers

Santuario/Sanctuary

The name – “Santuario/Sanctuary” – refers to the fact that all the farms working as a group are in the buffer zone of the Tabaconas – Namballe National Sanctuary. This environmental placement is important to Santuario, as the company prioritises environmental conservation and biodiversity.

Santuario’s main objective and activity is to work in cooperation with small producers and producer organisations in order to promote coffee quality improvement. The business not only helps with market access, but they also assume the role of agricultural extension – or technical field assistance – where individuals with agricultural expertise and training advise on all aspects of soil fertility, cultivation techniques, harvesting, post-harvest and, generally, improvement of quality. The coffee that the organisation works with comes from varied and unique production areas of the Cajamarca region. With diverse microclimates and high soil quality, they’ve identified practices that enable individual producers to instil the very best quality in their diverse lots. The focus, then, is on the production of small, distinct and unique high-quality micro lots…. And of course on making sure that these very special coffees find the right home with speciality roasters.

Ultimately, Santuario aims to help producers in one of Peru’s most impoverished but also promising (coffee-wise) districts to find sustainable markets for their coffee and improve their livelihoods. Mercanta is excited to be able to help them achieve this goal.

Conclusion

In the cup expect sweet orange marmalade and peach flavours with fruity acidity and medium body. Best suited for espresso, pourover and Aeropress

View our full coffee offering here.

Iyenga Cooperative

Iyenga Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (Iyenga AMCOS) was registered in 2003 under the Tanzanian cooperative act. The cooperative deals only with coffee and collects from more than 500 farmers within the Mbeya region. Of these 500 farmers, only around 191 are registered members of the cooperative.

Iyenga AMCOS is known within the region as very well-organised. Leaders come into power through democratic election: all farmers who are members of the cooperative have right to vote for the person they’d like to be in power, and every farmer has the right to contend for a board member position. Group leaders encourage women and young people to participate in coffee agriculture activities and in all cooperative activities. When the group first registered, there were only 64 members, all of whom were male. Now, of the group’s 193 members, 17 are female!

All the farmers in Iyenga village are very small scale and grow coffee on 5 hectares or less. In addition to coffee, many grow maize, peanuts and beans. The majority of farmers often keep one or two cows and some poultry, as well.

In 2010, the government granted the Iyenga Cooperative a Central Processing Unit machine – a Penagos UCBE 500 – which has enabled the Cooperative to improve their processing efficiency while using less water.

Tanzania Iyenga – Coffee Cherries

The specs of the coffee

Farm: Iyenga Agricultural Marketing Cooperative and Society
Varietal(s): Kent, Bourbon, N39 & other local varieties
Processing: Fully washed & sun dried on African beds
Altitude: 1670 to 1950 metres above sea level
Owner: Various smallholder farmers
Town: Iyenga town, Mbozi District
Region: Mbeya
Country: Tanzania
Total size of farm: Less than 5 hectares on average

Harvesting and Processing

This lot from Iyenga AMCOS is a mix of home processed and mill pulped coffees. In both cases, all coffee is hand harvested and pre-sorted before pulping.

Most farms are located quite near the mill, with the closest being only 300 metres away and the furthest 10 kilometres. In order to ensure that the coffee arrives at the mill in a timely fashion, the Cooperative has developed a shunting/ transportation system to collect coffee from all farmers who are either far from the wet mill or produce a large volume. Iyenga hires cars and motorbikes which go to visit farmers who have notified leaders in advance that they are harvesting that day. A secretary is appointed during the harvest season to arrange hunting logistics. This system has enabled the Cooperative to have more control over the quality of the cherry and pulped coffee that arrives at the mill.

Drying Coffee in Tanzania

Other Activities:

Iyenga Cooperative members ensure the soil remains fertile by adopting the best agricultural practices, upon which they are advised by the cooperative. These practices include preventing soil erosion through dual cropping, using mulching materials and applying compost on a regular basis at optimal times. Farmers tend to use manure from their own cows and composted coffee pulp, but some also use other fertilizers, though sparingly

Conclusion

In the cup expect oolong tea, grapefruit and winey flavours with a medium-low citrus acidity and full-chewy body.

View our full coffee offering here.