84.10

Overview

The Salaverria sisters, Anabella and Maria Alicia, are the proud and dedicated owners of Finca Cerro de Oro. Their childhood was full of coffee experiences: “The love for coffee has been part of our family legacy, and our best teacher has been our father”. Since they were very young, they accompanied him to watch over the plantations, check the labors and spent their whole vacations and holidays in the family’s mill located in Salcoatitan, a little town in the Sonsonate department. These days, all this knowledge is being passed on to their own daughters, Ana Paola and Cristina Leonor, so that they learn to love their coffee, the farm, and the people that work in, so that they keep their legacy. Cerro de Oro was acquired more than 90 years ago and was baptized by the sister’s great grand father, Francisco Salaverria, who was one of the coffee growing pioneers in the Juayua area. Since then, the farm has been in the family’s hands, and has passed from generation to generation, until in 1991 their father Julio Cesar Salaverria passed the farm to them, and last year gave them both total management and rights over the farm. The lot was personally selected to participate in this year’s CoE and came from a smaller plot of the farm called “Orizabal”. They chose this specific plot because it’s 100% Bourbón and grown at an altitude of 1,390 masl. The lot was harvested at the cherry’s optimum ripeness and was sent daily to the mill during 3 days. As owners, Anabella and Maria Alicia attribute the farm’s success at this year’s CoE to various reasons, but the most important are the harvesting practices, the soil, and the detailed labor of the pickers. Their projects for this year include the repair of the farm manager’s house, and the various water tanks they use to provide the other three families that live in the farm. Also they plan on buying ecofriendly-kitchens for all of them. 20 people live inside the farm, and 90 people work there at harvest time.

Additional information

Coffee varieties: Bourbón
Type of Shade: Ingas, Guachipilin, Chilamate, Oak, Cipress, Copalchi, Cedar, etc.
Average Annual Rainfall: 3,500 mm
Average Temperature: 20º C
Type of Soil: Clayish loam
Annual Production: (60kg) 540 bags
Mill and company where lot was process: Cooperativa Cuzcachapa de R.L.
Other crops: Bananas
Fauna: Birds: Woodpeckers, talapos, gualcachias, doves, Magpie, Torogoz. Small mammals: Taltuza, Rabbit, Squirrels, etc.

GPS Coordinates:

Latitude: N 13º 50’ 36.1’’
Longitude: W 89º 46’ 42.9’’