88.02
Overview
Alaska farm is located only 55 minutes away from Santa Ana city, on the northwest slopes of the Santa Ana volcano, one of the most privileged coffee growing areas in El Salvador . The microclimate, fauna and flora, together with incredible landscapes allow this farm to have enormous eco- tourism potential as well.
Finca Alaska was bought by Juan Jose Ernesto Menendez only one year ago, but dont be fooled by this apparent short career in coffee, he is a fourth-generation coffee grower and also one of the most well-known coffee cuppers in El Salvador , with 8 years in coffee quality control and only few exams away from being a certified cupper by the SCAA and CQI, He also have COE experience as national judge, so you can be sure that all this knowledge and heritage is behind Alaskas coffee.
Alaska is mainly grown to Red and Orange Bourbón, with an experimental lot grown to Pacamara. Netos approach is to maintain the coffee field balanced with the environment and shade plays a tremendous role here, he is introducing cypress trees in some areas and replanting new red and orange Bourbón trees. His goal is to reach 50% of each variety replanted in the farm within the next 3 years. He thinks both varieties gave notable organoleptic characteristics to the winning lot, enhancing the brightness of the acidity and delivering excellent sweetness.
Alaska process was done at San Carlos mill, following the same treatment as Finca Suiza that won 2nd place this year. The whole process was supervised by Juan Jose Ernesto or Neto as people call him in El Salvador . He thanks god above all, his wife, his 2 kids and his brother. Neto is very grateful with his farm supervisor, because he advice him about buying that farm, which he fall in love with from the first time he laid a foot on, and to Mario Mendoza, his boss, and all the people involved in this journey for the support on every step.
Ernesto keeps 4 permanent workers and employs 30 people for harvesting time; he pays $1.10 per 25 pounds of cherries, when the regular wage is a little under 0.80 cents. He is very proud and satisfied to see that all the extra effort put by his fellow workers.
Ernesto is hoping to develop a long term relationship with his buyer, he wants to break the commercial and language barriers, so he can develop more opportunities as a grower to produce and sell to the perfect roaster. This is something that will give him extra strength to live his dream and to secure a better future for his family and workers.
Other Statistics:
Coffee varieties: 55% Red Bourbón, 40% Orange Bourbón, 5% Pacamara
Type of Shade: Pepeto peludo, gravileo, cypress, copalchi, etc.
Average Annual Rainfall: 2,100 mm
Average Temperature: 18º C
Type of Soil: Sandy loam
Annual Production: (60kg) 50 bags
Mill and company where lot was process: San Carlos Mill
Fauna: Armadillos, Torogoz, Agouti, snakes, squirrels, orioles, deer, hawks, rabbits, etc.
GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: N 13º 52 22.2
Longitude: W 89º 36 22.6
Rank | 8 |
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Farm Name | Alaska |
Farmer/Rep. | Juan José Ernesto Menéndez Arguello |
Altitude | 1620 |
Country | El Salvador |
Year | 2007 |
Size (30kg boxes) | 21 |
City | Santa Ana |
Region | Santa Ana |
Program | El Salvador 2007 |
Month | - |
Processing system | Washed Sun dried |
Variety | Bourbón |
Coffee Growing Area | 3.15 |
Farm Size | 3.15 |
High bid | 5.55 |
Total value | 17729.46 |
High bidders | Mercanta The Coffee Hunters for Black Cat (NO), Kaffeespezialität (AT), Rocket Coffee Roasters (NZ), Has Bean Coffee (UK), Twoday Coffee Roasters (UK), Bolling Coffee (UK) |