El Salvador
This month I wanted to discuss El Salvador coffee, since I am at this very moment in the country visiting my producer. As many of you know, the producer’s sister lives near my Reston location, and it’s how we originally connected 4+ years ago. Since then I have grown to appreciate the coffee and culture more and more, in addition the farmer visits me occasionally when he is in Virginia. Today I was able to get a little more of that experience as well. Jorge brought me to the coffee lab he collaborates in with a local roaster. It was a fun experience, since it embodies what I hope do one day. The place probably wasn’t more than 500 square feet, but it had a small patio, bar counter, cupping and roasting area. In addition he had a variety of plant growing that currently is not a registered variety. I thought that was pretty awesome that he is on the verge of naming a new variety that naturally mutated and is resistant to some climate factors.
With that background I experienced several other understandings during my drive of the city. I was not born yet, but the country was challenged by civil war which was from 1979-1992. Since then it has continued to struggle to pull itself out of that challenge. In the coffee world, the big companies swiped up all the production, essentially paying pennies on the dollar, which meant poor returns for farmers and workers. In addition gang activity has rose due to varying factors above my pay grade. With all of these challenges the people have no doubt had their struggles. From what I have heard and seen by many, the last several years have been a glimmer of hope. Today we went to a restaurant that’s connected to a coffee farm and roaster. Agro-tourism is growing in these areas, with people choosing to do more tourist style experiences, instead of that typical family visit, that doesn’t produce as much activity in the economy.
With all of that said, projects like biokrop that Jorge is doing, working with many local farms to produce good coffee, take it to competition and export it is helping to make a healthier economy in the local coffee world. In addition he works with my other friends I speak about regularly CafeKreyol, to share shipping containers, which keeps costs down for everyone. These guys are creating sustainability across the board, from proper treatment of the land, farmers and workers. Jorge shared with me, that he allows part of the farm to be an area they can grow their own produce, so long as they don’t use the wrong and harmful chemicals that can disrupt the organic methods he seeks to practice. In many respects, Jorge is living out Catholic teachings, ironically he is active in his faith, an agent of change when applied to ones life.
I listen to some podcasts that talk about how in the old days, people would sharecrop. With all the constant changes to economics over the past decades, especially inflation, these ideas fade away as the owners of the properties take away benefits from their employees just to pay for other government driven policies to manipulate economies, which often with the removal of true free market trade (capitalism), often leaves people in poverty, and others super wealthy & powerful. This currently challenges some parts of Central America. The people struggle to own land, and after civil wars, they get the land, which often then is squandered only to end up back in the hands of those at the top, due to lack of education and resources. I heard this consistent story in Guatemala and El Salvador today, as well as Vietnam in the past. So too with many cultures that come to the USA.
With a little bit of this context, this is why I really love sharing the El Salvador coffee that I get every year. I began with the Pacas, variety, since it was from Jorge’s farm, and he worked with Catholic Relief Services in the Blue Harvest water sustainability program. From there I tried the Red Bourbon which was from a partner farm, and an indigenous bean from El Salvador. I also had an anaerobic process which was popular, but sometimes customers found it too acidic. After going back to the Pacas, I finally settled on Pacamara this year. The Pacamara is another indigenous bean to El Salvador and very poplar with it’s bright tropical notes. Since I began roasting it, the bean has received many wows in the hot and cold versions. In close I picked up a small batch of the Pacamara Honey Processed so everyone can try it and see how it’s different from the current washed processed Pacamara I roast regularly.
Below are some pictures from my visit with him, and his sister from Virginia, who just happened to be in El Salvador still. The table of beans is the development process of the beans from when they are harvested to fully processed. The next picture is Jorge with his potential new variety of coffee that he is hoping to name, and Cherito Coffee truck. This is Jorge’s side project that he does with his employee Leo. We enjoyed a nice geisha pour over, and then he made me a shot of espresso with another variety.
