Introduction to Las Delicias Farm in El Salvador - What is El Salvador's Coffee Production?

El Salvador: A Nation of Exceptional Coffee

El Salvador is one of the smaller countries in Central America, with a very dense population. Its coffee is known for excellent balance. Today it accounts for 40% of the country's total exports. The highest-quality lots are exported from January to March, with 35% of the strictly hard beans going to Germany.

In the early 1990s, guerrilla warfare badly damaged the national economy, and coffee production fell from 3.5 million bags in the early 1970s to 2.5 million bags in 1990-1991. The eastern part of the country was hit hardest, forcing many farmers and workers to abandon their plantations. Capital shortages cut yields sharply, from 1,200 kilograms per hectare in the past to less than 900 kilograms per hectare today.

Then, in 1986, the government added a 15% tariff on coffee exports on top of the existing 30% tax. Along with unfavorable exchange rates, these taxes caused an extreme drop in exports and a matching decline in quality. The government finally recognized coffee's importance to the national economy - providing employment, earning foreign exchange, and developing agriculture - so in 1990 it partially privatized the coffee export industry, hoping to improve coffee's profitability in export markets.

Coffee from the Cuscacbapa region of El Salvador is a Central American specialty, known for its light body, aromatic quality, purity, and slight acidity. Like Guatemala and Costa Rica, El Salvador grades its coffee by altitude - the higher the altitude, the better the coffee. The best marque is Pipil, the Aztec-Mayan name for coffee, and it holds certification from the Organic Certified Institute of America.

Las Delicias Farm

Owner/Co-op Members: CAFINO SA de CV

Region: Apaneca - Ilamatepec Mountain Range

Altitude: 1,600-1,900 meters above sea level

Climate: Humid - Tropical

Temperature Range: 8-21°C

Soil: Volcanic

Rainfall: 4,000 mm annually

Farm Story

The Las Delicias farm is located in the Ilamatepeq mountains of Canton Palo de Campana and produces some of El Salvador's finest coffee. It is also one of the country's most important coffee-growing regions.

The Cup of Excellence lots come from growing areas where PACAMARA and batches of SL-28 are cultivated using natural processes and dried on African beds for 28 days. For the first three days, small amounts of water are added every two hours to slow the transfer of sugar into the beans. After 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM on the third day, the beds are covered daily.

The farm operates year-round according to "protocols" that define all the work to be completed, depending on the plantation's strategic plan. We sequence the work, use pruning methods, carry out coffee pruning, schedule windbreak-pruning periods under a defined 5-year restoration method, apply fertilization formulas based on soil analysis, implement cleaning strategies, and manage all farm-related projects, among other activities.

These defined protocols let us keep tracking documentation of the farm's development, which gives us traceability support.

The results of our harvesting methods give us the chance to start our coffee processing from an excellent position. We believe the most important role in that process is played by the pickers.

As part of our social responsibility, we promote a "Happy People" program built on well-being, encouraging our team to find joy in their daily work. We look for smiles everywhere. We believe happy people work better and can achieve productivity.

As a family, we carry out regular farm assessments. The farm is supervised weekly with strict planning to manage the defined post-harvest period. We treat our collaborators as part of the team, with everyone aware of the goals and objectives.

Established: In the early 1950s, and composed of coffee and cypress trees.

Ownership: CAFINO SA de CV.

Winner of the Cup of Excellence in 2003, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Since the 1950s, thanks to the climate, this farm has been growing coffee. Our sister company, CAFESCAL, has been commercializing coffee from this farm for the past few years. The chance to purchase the farm came in September 2014. Knowing the quality of the coffee it produces, we decided to create a sister company to run it, and we did. It is now part of the CAFESCAL group that operates the farm and its processes.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends brewing with water at 90-92°C to bring out flavors of plum, dark chocolate, fruit, dried rose, blood orange, spices, cedar, and peach.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

When a coffee is built on clean fruit and florals, a light roast does it the most justice - and that's exactly our approach here. FrontStreet Ethiopia Hua Kui is a natural lot from Guji Hambella, bursting with tropical fruit, strawberry, dried mango and black tea, with almost no bitterness and a juicy, smooth body. FrontStreet Kenya Small Tomato is the brighter alternative: SL28 and SL34 at 1,550-1,750 meters, given a 72-hour double washed fermentation and a light roast, for cherry-tomato and smoked-plum acidity with pear and black plum. Brew either as pour-over at 90-92°C, 15g of coffee to a 1:15 ratio.