It would seem logical that the smallest Central American coffee-growing country would produce microlots, but historically, much of the coffee was blended and sold to mills, without much lot differentiation and separation. The rise of specialty coffee in El Salvador has inspired many producers to start to identify and isolate individual varieties, and to experiment with sorting and processing, as a way of attracting buyers and getting higher prices, but access to those resources can still be difficult for smaller growers.
For the past few years, Café Imports green buyer Piero Cristiani—who is from El Salvador, and whose mother has a long history in coffee there—has embarked on a project designed to identify, reward, and bring to market the exceptional results of the hard, innovative work that producers are increasingly interested in doing here.
Focusing on the region of Chalatenango, Piero has partnered with a cupper and a local mill to buy small, select microlots from producers—some separated by variety, some by process, and some by both. We are buying the coffee in parchment and doing the ruling and final sorting and bagging ourselves, which allows for more quality control as well as the ability to package some of these very special small lots in custom 35-kilo Pequeños bags, to create more widespread access to these coffees to roasters.
José Antonio Aguilar has about 30 years' experience in coffee, and is a man of relatively few words. He does hope to establish relationships with buyers of his coffee, and to continue to work with them on his offerings and lots.
He has about 8 manzanas of Pacas coffee, all Washed process: He depulps the cherry after picking it, lets it ferment dry for about 10–15 hours, then washes it before laying it on beds and patios for 10–12 days to dry. His farm can produce upwards of 140 quintales, but the 2016/2017 harvest was a little lower, around 80 quintales: Like most farmers in El Salvador, he explains that he has struggled with "un poco de roya," a little bit of coffee-leaf rust.
We are proud to offer these micro-microlots, and can’t wait for you and your customers to experience the delicious stuff that comes in these small packages.
For more information about coffee production in El Salvador, visit our El Salvador Origin Page.
