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El Salvador Trip Report January 2007
by Audra Marx
by Audra Marx
| Muddy's Main |
| 100 W Main St |
| Elizabeth City, NC |
| 252/338-BREW |
| M-F 6:30am - 10pm |
| Sat 7am - 10pm |
| Sun 8am - 6pm |
| Muddy's Cafe Express |
| 409 W Ehringhaus St |
| Elizabeth City, NC |
| 252/333-1902 |
| Mon-Sat 6am - 6pm |
| drive-thru or walk-in |
Myself, my husband and my mangers (Beth & Chris) have just returned
from Santa Ana, El Salvador. We’ve been visiting our good friend and
coffee grower, Aida Batlle. She and Jose Antonio Salverria were our hosts
for an amazing week in coffee. We got to see Aida’s beautiful bourbon (an
heirloom coffee) rich farms WAAAAY up in the mountains. She owns three
farms actually, in elevation from 800 meters to 1800 meters. One of her
farm’s coffees is purchased exclusively by our roaster. It’s just called El
Salvador in our shops, but the farm is named Finca Mauritania (for her
father). We got to practice our hand at picking coffee on another one of her
farms, Los Alpes. You have to be really careful when you pick cherries to
not pull the whole stem off the plant or you strip next year’s buds. I think
we ate more cherries than we actually put in our baskets!
The bourbon variety that is planted almost exclusively on her farms is very
dark red and extremely sweet. Many coffee farms today are planted with
modern high production hybrids, much like our own farmland. In my
opinion these produce bland, non-exciting tastes. If you’ve ever tasted a
Brandywine (or other heirloom) tomato next to a Better Boy, you’ll know
what I’m talking about. The bourbon is so much sweeter, and Aida has
even started hand-selecting only yellow bourbons and orange bourbons
to see what they taste like by themselves. This is all very cutting-edge and
exciting for us to be a part of.
After mill touring, farm touring, picking coffee, hand culling and cupping,
we even got to enjoy some amazing local food and scenery. This country
is producing some of the finest coffees available today, and we are very
excited to be able to share them with you. If you haven’t heard much about
coffee from El Salvador, it’s one you should definitely try!
More pics...
from Santa Ana, El Salvador. We’ve been visiting our good friend and
coffee grower, Aida Batlle. She and Jose Antonio Salverria were our hosts
for an amazing week in coffee. We got to see Aida’s beautiful bourbon (an
heirloom coffee) rich farms WAAAAY up in the mountains. She owns three
farms actually, in elevation from 800 meters to 1800 meters. One of her
farm’s coffees is purchased exclusively by our roaster. It’s just called El
Salvador in our shops, but the farm is named Finca Mauritania (for her
father). We got to practice our hand at picking coffee on another one of her
farms, Los Alpes. You have to be really careful when you pick cherries to
not pull the whole stem off the plant or you strip next year’s buds. I think
we ate more cherries than we actually put in our baskets!
The bourbon variety that is planted almost exclusively on her farms is very
dark red and extremely sweet. Many coffee farms today are planted with
modern high production hybrids, much like our own farmland. In my
opinion these produce bland, non-exciting tastes. If you’ve ever tasted a
Brandywine (or other heirloom) tomato next to a Better Boy, you’ll know
what I’m talking about. The bourbon is so much sweeter, and Aida has
even started hand-selecting only yellow bourbons and orange bourbons
to see what they taste like by themselves. This is all very cutting-edge and
exciting for us to be a part of.
After mill touring, farm touring, picking coffee, hand culling and cupping,
we even got to enjoy some amazing local food and scenery. This country
is producing some of the finest coffees available today, and we are very
excited to be able to share them with you. If you haven’t heard much about
coffee from El Salvador, it’s one you should definitely try!
More pics...