El Salvador - Finca El Carmen

 Origin: El Salvador, Apaneca-llamatepec, Ahuachapan 

Farm: El Carmen Estate & Beneficio

El Carmen Estate is located at 1,300m above sea level in El Salvador’s Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range, one of Central America’s prime specialty coffee producing areas. The estate has been farmed by the Alfaro family for over a century.

The estate was founded in the middle of the 19th century when Antonio José Alfaro acquired a plot of land near the village of Ataco – meaning ‘Site of Elevated Springs’ in the indigenous Nahuatl language – where he started to produce coffee. His son, Agustin Alfaro, founder of the Salvadoran National Coffee Company, follo

wed in his father’s footsteps and established El Carmen as one of El Salvador’s leading exporters. His efforts were continued by Antonio Alfaro, head of the third generation of this coffee family and are carried through today by Fernando Alfaro, the fourth generation of his family to farm coffee.

El Carmen cultivates a number of Orange (sometimes called ‘pink’ Bourbon trees), which are natural mutations of the famous Red Bourbon. During the harvest, the bourbon cherries are hand-picked only when perfectly ripe. They are kept separate from other varieties and floated to remove any debris or underweight cherries. After this, the cleaned cherries are placed in plastic barrels and sealed making sure they are airtight. Once sealed, the coffee is left to slowly ferment for between 96 – 120 hours (4 to 5 days), helping develop new and interesting flavour profiles. During the process, the team at El Carmen perform regular temperature checks to make sure the mass is stable.

El Carmen has also expanded into tourism services in recent years, offering coffee tours and overnight accommodation in the farm’s original family home. An institution in the area, it has become a proud symbol of Ataco village.

Sensory: Yellow Kiwi, Dried Fruts 

we also have 1kg bags available

we recommend this coffee for filter and espresso