EL SALVADOR - EL TANQUE

Farm: El Tanque 

Varietal: Bourbon 

Processing: Washed

Altitude: 1600 Metres above sea level 

Owner: Fernando Felipe Alfaro Castaneda

Town: Santa Tecla 

Region: San Salvador Volcano

El Salvador is a small but mighty coffee producing country, in the heart of Central America. Coffee first arrived in the late 1880s, and soon became a leading export. El Salvador dominated the global coffee producing market, until their civil war from 1979-1992 caused a disruption in production. The country has been gradually recovering production, thanks to a select number of families and exporting groups. El Salvador is a remarkably supportive country, slowly gaining back their prominence in the world.

In the rich area of San Salvador Volcano, there are nutritious volcanic soils and ideal climates for coffee production. It is here where the El Tanque coffee farm is located.

The farm is 15 hectares, and is owned by Fernando Felipe Alfaro Castaneda, who started ALFACOMER, S.A. de C.V., a coffee growing company, in 2019. His vision for the company was to enter into the international speciality coffee market, with coffee from El Salvador. Fernando acquired Miramar from his father in law, Dr Napoleón Diaz Nuila, in 2019, to begin producing exotic varietals to submit into competitions such as Cup of Excellence.

During the harvest, after the cherries are carefully handpicked, they are delivered to our exporting partner wet mill in El Salvador, El Carmen, to be sorted. The cherries are then pulped the same day to remove the external fruit. Once clean, the coffee is sent to tanks to ferment for 6-8 hours, breaking down the remaining sticky mucilage. Next, the coffee is washed with clean water, removing any remaining mucilage or foreign matter. The coffee is dispersed on clay patios to dry in the open sun for 15-18 days, with constant movement to ensure even drying is attained. When the moisture content of the coffee reaches 10.5%, it is bagged and rested for 30 days before being hulled and prepared for export.