El Salvador, Puerto Arturo - Espresso

Alvaro Moises' farm, Puerto Arturo has been in his family for several generations. Until recently he never received recognition for his coffees, having previously sold them to other producers in the region who would sell them as their own. 

Puerto Aruturo is located on the outskirts of Apaneca, a famous coffee-producing town on the Ruta de las Flores in the west of El Salvador. Working as an architect and nature conservationist in addition to his coffee producing, Alvaro has only sold his coffee directly to market for 2-3 years. Prior to this, he would sell to neighbouring farms and mills, who would then sell the coffee under their own name.

CONSERVATION

Historically, El Salvador has been overpopulated and had a lot of deforestation. As a result, there has been a lack of official nature reserves or protected habitats for local flora and fauna. However during the El Salvadorian civil war, many people abandoned the countryside; the  remote areas left behind gradually regrew into forests. A group of people created a private NGO, Salvanatura, to work with the government in order to manage nature reserves in these areas.

Alvaro co-founded and led the Salvanatura organisation for several years, ensuring that the biodiversity and health of the local landscape and natural parks was maintained for future generations. At the Puerto Arturo farm, his dedication to conversation and wildlife is apparent in the great health of his farm, his collection of rare trees, and his small sanctuary for local trees to reproduce. 

GROWING & PROCESSING 

Alvaro uses some interesting techniques to ensure the health of his Orange Bourbon trees. Rather than use pesticides to eliminate infestations of the broca insect, which burrows and breeds within coffee cherries, he captures them in other plants. 

He grows Liberica trees, which act as traps for the broca insect; as the Liberica cherries mature at different times than Arabica, the broca migrates to the Liberica before other cherries. Alvaro then harvests the Liberica cherries early, in order to capture the brocas inside before they reproduce.

This Orange Bourbon lot was created using natural processing, with a 48 hour maceration before drying. The result is a coffee that is complex, sweet and a little bit wild - brewed as an espresso, enjoy notes of chocolate, citric notes of mandarin, and an aroma and finish of white florals.