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El Salvador January 2008 Galleries

Matalapa Farm, part 1 : El Salvador is almost exactly the size of Massachusetts. It used to be the fourth largest coffee producer in the world in the 1950's and was renowned for the qulaity of its coffees. The 1980's brought breakup and devastation as civil war raged. Coffee growers have been trying to recuperate ever since. Exceedingly low world coffee prices and natural disasters (hurricanes, a freak wind storm, a volcanic eruption and a devastating 8+ earthquake) have made it especially difficult. El Salvador, in my opinion, produces some of the great coffees of the world and sets a very high quality standard for how coffee should be harvested and processed. Specialty roasters around the world have taken note of El Salvador's exceptional coffees. Our visit was much too short but it is the first of many more to come. We visited three coffee regions. Laurie and I spent the entire week in the San Salvador home of Vickie Ann Dalton, third generation owner of Matalapa Farm, a winner of Cup of Excellence (we have the immense pleasure of offering our customers her very sweet, very easy to drink coffee). Vickie's home in the city is covered with gorgeous photos taken by her husband, Francisco Diaz, of butterflies, moths and other insects. I have inserted several photos of the amateur but very talented and inspired Francisco here. She and Francisco drove us to her farm and mill. Here are some shots of what we saw.....

Matalapa Farm, part 1

El Salvador is almost exactly the size of Massachusetts. It used to be the fourth largest coffee producer in the world in the 1950's and was renowned for the qulaity of its coffees. The 1980's brought breakup and devastation as civil war raged. Coffee growers have been trying to recuperate ever since. Exceedingly low world coffee pric ...

Updated: Feb 20, 2008 7:44am PST

Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range coffee region, El Salvador Jan 2008 part 2 : Next were visits to the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range where many past Cup of Excellence winners are to be found. This is a very live volcanic region, having suffered an ash-spewing eruption by the Santa Anna volcano (also called the Ilamatepec volcano) in 2005, which shut down much of the area's production for two years.

Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range coffee region, El Salvador Jan 2008 part 2

Next were visits to the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range where many past Cup of Excellence winners are to be found. This is a very live volcanic region, having suffered an ash-spewing eruption by the Santa Anna volcano (also called the Ilamatepec volcano) in 2005, which shut down much of the area's production for two years.

Updated: Feb 20, 2008 7:45am PST

Chalatenango, La Montana Farm, part 3 : Chalatenango is an up and coming quality region of El Salvador, mainly inhabited by small farmers. It was hardly recognized by anyone until Cup of Excellence (www.cupofexcellence.org) "discovered" their coffees. Last year this region took 1st, 3rd and 4th place with La Montana leading the way. The year before Los Planes took 2nd place. We visited these two farms. This section shows La Montana and the terrible ravages of a three-day wind storm that struck El Salvador in early January of this year. We drove to Mr. Ochoa’s farm with Sergio Edmundo Ticas Reyes and his wife Isabela, owners of another 1st place Cup of Excellence winner (2006) from the same Chalatenango region. On the way Isabela told us that in early January the near-hurricane winds lasted for three days and nights “without pity.” We saw this pattern throughout El Salvador; every patch of land directly facing the Pacific Ocean was hit while those which were in some way protected were usually spared. Thus Matalapa, in an entirely different region but which faces the ocean, was heavily affected as well – we will report on this in the next newsletter. The damage done to La Montana is so severe because not only did it happen before the harvest, eliminating any funding for this year, but also because all the shade trees were shorn of their leaves as well. The dry season started in November in El Salvador and it may not rain until April or May again – not once. So here we have leafless trees which have been desiccated by the driving winds and their parched soil beneath, without any covering against the scorching sun. Buds have already appeared on some of the less damaged coffee trees while others simply need a tug to be plucked lifeless out of the exposed soil. These green messages of hope will not make it without help from the heavens, it seems to us. We can only join the Ochoas in praying for rain. No one expects a crop next year; it is a matter of hoping for survival. The first crop will be the following year (appearing in the marketplace in 2010) and we are told it will be small. Mr. Ochoa was deeply moved by your contributions, holding back tears when we explained to him what was being done. We explained to him that we could not let someone who was the winner of the Cup of Excellence four years in succession - 31st, 5th, 4th and now 1st - and who had shined an inspirational light for other small farmers in El Salvador by hard work and attention to detail, to go down. Mr. Ochoa had been planning to invest monies from this year’s harvest into infrastructure to secure greater quality control. We will be in touch.

Chalatenango, La Montana Farm, part 3

Chalatenango is an up and coming quality region of El Salvador, mainly inhabited by small farmers. It was hardly recognized by anyone until Cup of Excellence (www.cupofexcellence.org) "discovered" their coffees. Last year this region took 1st, 3rd and 4th place with La Montana leading the way. The year before Los Planes took 2nd place. ...

Updated: Feb 20, 2008 7:51am PST

Chalatenango, Los Planes Farm, Part 4 : Los Planes Farm, also in Chalatenango, was our final stop and it was a show stopper - in full harvest with red cherries everywhere.

Chalatenango, Los Planes Farm, Part 4

Los Planes Farm, also in Chalatenango, was our final stop and it was a show stopper - in full harvest with red cherries everywhere.

Updated: Feb 20, 2008 8:00am PST