El Salvador via Newberg Roastery
“Francisco Valdivieso”… … how would you like to be born with that name? Four years ago, a young man in his early 20’s came to my store-front Roastery in Newberg, Oregon and introduced himself with such a name. He was carrying some green coffee and a big smile. He tells me that this coffee is from his family farm in El Salvador where he was born 25 years ago. Now, it is not every day that I meet someone in Newberg, Oregon who was born into a coffee family so I was intrigued to say the least.
Since that fateful day, I have come to respect and love this name and family. Francisco was born in El Salvador, in the year 1980’s at the peak of a civil war. As a young boy his father moved the family to Oregon to find a new life. Meanwhile his father’s brother, (Uncle Ricardo, or “Rick”), stayed in El Salvador, for among other reasons, to manage the family business.
Fascinated by this story and this young man, I took his sample of green coffee and promised to “cup” and consider his coffee in my offering. Now, having launched my coffee roasting business in the mid-1990 with a trip to Costa Rica, I was biased toward this Central American player that preformed so well in my developing career. Salvadoran coffee is not found in many offerings and I had found that my favorite Central American coffees were found in either Costa Rica (from the Tarrazu region with crisp acidity and classic nutty tones), or a Guatemala Antigua (with robust bold flavor that includes rich smoky, tobacco-like notes at medium roasts).
Feeling my offering was already well-rounded and a full of representation from Central America, I looked at this coffee with low expectations. After examining the green coffee and cupping side by side, with my favorite coffees, I decided that this very clean coffee with subtle chocolate and berry tones is worth trying as a featured estate coffee.
Now, every year we look with excitement to our new lot of “Santa Leticia”, El Salvador from the Valdivieso family. We are find different nuances in the cup but with great consistency in its major flavor profile much like our fine Pinot Noir from Owen Roe of Newberg.
Francisco filled us in on the story behind Santa Leticia. This coffee farm has been in Francisco’s family for over 120 years. It is shade grown and 100 % bourbon variety grown between 3500 and 5000 feet in western El Salvador. There are also a number of archeological sites of Mayan idols in the middle of this farm thought to be over 3000 years by some experts.
His uncle, Rick, who continues to manage the family enterprise from El Salvador has come to my Roastery several times and gave me a personal invitation to visit the farm. Talk about direct relationship… … how many times has a coffee grower come into your office in the states?
Several years ago, I asked Rick if he ever separated out the Peaberry of his crop because I found these small ball bearing shaped beans to be the most powerful flavor of a crop. He said he had never heard of a request like this nor has there ever been such an analysis of Peaberry in the 120 years of his coffee farm. Feeling like I was pushing this proud, traditional man too far, I left the subject alone. Yet the following year Francisco showed up to our Roastery with the first Peaberry produced from Santa Leticia. This Peaberry cup is very beautiful.
This last January, I decided to reciprocate with a visit to Rick’s farm. My wife, Krista, agrees to come with me on this adventure. After 3 plus hours from Portland to Dallas and a 4 hour layover, we get to Guatemala City which is our home base for a 12 day Central American Tour. We are both very tired from lack of sleep and the travels. My head aches as we get onto the plane for our last leg to Guatemala City.
We arrive late in Guatemala City and I crash into my bed, nursing a headache with aspirin and water. The next morning my headache is gone and we head down for breakfast. Krista enjoyed a crepe with a yogurt-milk drink. I had huevas, black beans, fried plantaines, corn meal, and salsa. Washed down with an espresso and I was glad to be alive again.
After missing the 7:00 am bus to Santa Ana, I assured Krista that we would be okay with driving through Guatemala and El Salvador in a rental car. Guatemala City driving with 10 million people is quite different than Newberg, Oregon driving – forget safety and traffic rules. One had to approach this with “bravado”. After scaring Krista half to death, we are on the great Pan-American “Hole-way”, (I mean “highway”), headed south to El Salvador. I’m cruising on this highway at 80 km/hr just leaving Guatemala City and realize there was an unshielded man-hole that I just went over – I must have missed that thing or my little car’s tire would be toast.
As we leave the city headed south, we travel through the high plateau areas of farming land, spotted with villages. After several hours on the road we see another sign guiding us toward El Salvador… … but I continue to wonder if we may be off track to Santa Leticia, perhaps crossing a more westerly border.
At 3 hours, we finally get to the correct crossing! But, hold on… …. … a dozen peasant-looking men all surround our car are shouting something in Spanish. With my limited Spanish, I understand that they want to help me with money exchange, passport assistance, women, or whatever I may need for my trip. I say “no gracias” and pull forward… … they follow us. I see some officials near the crossing, but none giving any directions so I pull over to the side where other cars are parked unattended. Again, this group hounds me – I wave them off and escort Krista out of the car. We walk into the building at the crossing. After waiting in line to get our passports checked and stamped, we are told to cross the bridge and pay (at least that’s what we gathered the official was saying in Spanish).
We cross the bridge and in El Salvador we get a “Bienavidos” banner and a policeman guiding us to another building. Just up the hill a kilometer, we are stopped by 4 armed officials. They want to check my license, passport, title. They search the car including the trunk casually and send me on my way.
We begin ascending into the mountainous region of the Sierra Apaneca Illamatepec where the best of El Salvador’s coffee is grown. We feel the air cool as we rise and a slight breeze. Men, women and children line the road sorting coffee cherries from the day’s harvest. It is about 4:00 pm in the afternoon. The hillsides are covered with coffee trees and rows of cypress trees for wind breaks. About 1 hour later we arrive at Hotel Santa Leticia – just 3 kilometers east of Apaneca. The mountain air is cool, and a slight breeze is felt from the east.
A pilsner for me and rojo vino for Krista on the patio is the first order of business. Then to the registration desk to check in. A swim in the pool just outside our door feels great before dinner at the restaurant of the Hotel.
Brothers Maurice and Ricardo Valdivieso walk up and we greet. They have Maurice’s daughter Alexis (Francisco’s sister) with them.
--------------, the farm manager joins us for a farm tour. --------- is responsible for the maintenance of the farm and harvest. His knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation. One of the most unusual things about this coffee region is how the coffee is boxed in with 30 foot high hedge of trees. He explains how these intricate wind breaks box in the coffee to protect the coffee trees from the cross winds that are so common in these mountains in Southwestern El Salvador. Rick tells me that only the people who live in these mountains know where and how to manage these wind breaks.
We take a short drive on a county road to walk the farm. Fine ash dust from the volcano eruption in October covers the foliage giving the coffee leaves a grayish tint on the green leaves except for the new leaf growth. Trees at this elevation of the farm (approximately 4000 feet) have been picked 2 times. The third picking begins Monday. Most of the fruit is red with some green on the same trees. Pacamara and Bouborn. Some bourbon at this elevation is 100 years old. The bourbon did not do as well through the hurricane and ash as the pacamara. The bourbon is a lankier tree some towering 30 feet or more. Branches are bent over to get to the fruit. Pacamara are more dense trees with many more leaves and growing broader.
We come to these large stones that are egg shaped and maybe 4 feet across, weighing over 1000 pounds. These are the pot bellied idols, first dug up by Rick in the 1950’s when he came back from the war. Archeologists believe these to be from the first Mayan civilizations and about 3500 years old. One archeologist suspects there are pyramids under the farm. While Rick has allowed excavations for seeking out more idols and other artifacts (7 have been unearthed), and open National Geographic and tourists to archeological walks around the farm, he is not ready to allow complete destruction of his coffee farm.
We drive further deeper into to the farm. It is very dense forest. Rick points out trees of cedar, avocado, lemon, and pine. Some have asked him why he keeps these trees here, when he could get better coffee yields by thinning some of these trees. He simply responds that because they were here when he was a boy running through this farm, he wants to preserve the natural beauty of this place. Rick has an unusual interest in conservation, noting that over 1000 species of birds have been accounted for on this farm, many of which are dependant on this farms shade canopy in their migration.
We come to a view point and look at volcanic ridge that includes Santa Ana that is now flattened after erupting in October. Back into truck to the highest elevation of farm, up to 5000 feet which is the highest point at this latitude for coffee. As we hike, we see Apaneca and the Ocean below. About 20 miles from the Ocean.
The coffee is milled in Apaneca. So we drive to the mill which is protected by an armed guard at the gate. We view the receiving area, pulping, fermentation, and drying patios. Traditional density sort with slanted table and a modern color sorter is used at this mill.
I ask Rick about the Peaberry sort for us. He directs me to a table where about 80 women hand sort out the Peaberry. It is Sunday, so I take this vision home with me of these 160 hands picking out my prize of the crop.
Part of balancing the time with my wife on some non-coffee related parts of our trip, the next day we took a horse back ride. Joining us is two young women from England who met each other the previous night in a hostel in Juayua and a young man, who has an inn in Juayua who is escorting the 2 women.
We ride up a windy trail passing coffee plants as we go uphill to a rain forest. As we rise to about 1600 meters toward the peak of the mountain, we overlook Ahuachapán and beyond this, the Guatemala desert. Soon the coffee plants are not seen and we are in a native forest. Part of the trail is grown over, the horses knowing the path, bring us up higher. We go through a dense forest of pine and cedar trees, with orchids in the trees and ferns on the ground. It is cool and humid in the canopy of trees and dense plants underneath. Krista and I are surprised of the diversity of scenery, some not unlike we see in the Coastal Range of Oregon.
As we come through the rain forest on the other side of the mountain ridge, we see beautiful vistas of the volcanic mountain range to the east. And again more coffee interspersed between the forested lands.
We offer to take Julio our guide out for lunch in Juayua. I’m starting to think we are the only gringos in the country. Its Sunday market day and it is a festival of street vendors, live music, and crowds. We drink beer and eat pupusa, (a unique El Salvador treat of hot, greasy thick tortilla often filled with meat or beans and cheese).
After a fun day of horse back riding and the colorful village of Juayua, we head back to our room at Santa Leticia and get a surprise visit from Rick. He invites us for dinner… … …our last at Santa Leticia. We give our final farewells, and invite Rick to a wine tour when he’s in Oregon this summer visiting his brother Maurice.
We check out of Santa Leticia Hotel to explore the Pacific Coast. After our two hour journey from Santa Leticia we arrive to El Sunzal, the internationally recognized surf spot, famous for the long breaks on this south facing beach. After checking into our beach front room, we take a walk on the black sand which is scorching. My wife leaves me for her book at the pool, while I indulge in some body surfing in the 80 degree Pacific. Just before dinner at the hotel on the bluff, we watch the sun set over the ocean.
We realize that here in El Sunzal, we will end this leg of our trip through El Salvador and head back to Guatemala tomorrow. The next morning the sun rises over the ocean which leaves me perplexed from seeing the sun just set over the ocean the night before from the same vantage point. Did I have too many Cervessas the night before? No… … this is the result of being on a south facing point of El Salvador’s Pacific – a remarkable experience.
With reflection of this rising and setting of the sun over the Pacific, I am reminded how the Valdivieso family both respects the past and protects the future of Santa Leticia. The past people and culture of the Mayans is honored by their family farm while the Patron looks toward the future of protecting the farm with such practices as traditional shade grown coffee under a native tree canopy. Now when I roast Santa Leticia from El Salvador, I grab a handful of seeds out of the cooling tray and am flooded with memories of our origin trip.
“Francisco Valdivieso”… … how would you like to be born with that name? Four years ago, a young man in his early 20’s came to my store-front Roastery in Newberg, Oregon and introduced himself with such a name. He was carrying some green coffee and a big smile. He tells me that this coffee is from his family farm in El Salvador where he was born 25 years ago. Now, it is not every day that I meet someone in Newberg, Oregon who was born into a coffee family so I was intrigued to say the least.
Since that fateful day, I have come to respect and love this name and family. Francisco was born in El Salvador, in the year 1980’s at the peak of a civil war. As a young boy his father moved the family to Oregon to find a new life. Meanwhile his father’s brother, (Uncle Ricardo, or “Rick”), stayed in El Salvador, for among other reasons, to manage the family business.
Fascinated by this story and this young man, I took his sample of green coffee and promised to “cup” and consider his coffee in my offering. Now, having launched my coffee roasting business in the mid-1990 with a trip to Costa Rica, I was biased toward this Central American player that preformed so well in my developing career. Salvadoran coffee is not found in many offerings and I had found that my favorite Central American coffees were found in either Costa Rica (from the Tarrazu region with crisp acidity and classic nutty tones), or a Guatemala Antigua (with robust bold flavor that includes rich smoky, tobacco-like notes at medium roasts).
Feeling my offering was already well-rounded and a full of representation from Central America, I looked at this coffee with low expectations. After examining the green coffee and cupping side by side, with my favorite coffees, I decided that this very clean coffee with subtle chocolate and berry tones is worth trying as a featured estate coffee.
Now, every year we look with excitement to our new lot of “Santa Leticia”, El Salvador from the Valdivieso family. We are find different nuances in the cup but with great consistency in its major flavor profile much like our fine Pinot Noir from Owen Roe of Newberg.
Francisco filled us in on the story behind Santa Leticia. This coffee farm has been in Francisco’s family for over 120 years. It is shade grown and 100 % bourbon variety grown between 3500 and 5000 feet in western El Salvador. There are also a number of archeological sites of Mayan idols in the middle of this farm thought to be over 3000 years by some experts.
His uncle, Rick, who continues to manage the family enterprise from El Salvador has come to my Roastery several times and gave me a personal invitation to visit the farm. Talk about direct relationship… … how many times has a coffee grower come into your office in the states?
Several years ago, I asked Rick if he ever separated out the Peaberry of his crop because I found these small ball bearing shaped beans to be the most powerful flavor of a crop. He said he had never heard of a request like this nor has there ever been such an analysis of Peaberry in the 120 years of his coffee farm. Feeling like I was pushing this proud, traditional man too far, I left the subject alone. Yet the following year Francisco showed up to our Roastery with the first Peaberry produced from Santa Leticia. This Peaberry cup is very beautiful.
This last January, I decided to reciprocate with a visit to Rick’s farm. My wife, Krista, agrees to come with me on this adventure. After 3 plus hours from Portland to Dallas and a 4 hour layover, we get to Guatemala City which is our home base for a 12 day Central American Tour. We are both very tired from lack of sleep and the travels. My head aches as we get onto the plane for our last leg to Guatemala City.
We arrive late in Guatemala City and I crash into my bed, nursing a headache with aspirin and water. The next morning my headache is gone and we head down for breakfast. Krista enjoyed a crepe with a yogurt-milk drink. I had huevas, black beans, fried plantaines, corn meal, and salsa. Washed down with an espresso and I was glad to be alive again.
After missing the 7:00 am bus to Santa Ana, I assured Krista that we would be okay with driving through Guatemala and El Salvador in a rental car. Guatemala City driving with 10 million people is quite different than Newberg, Oregon driving – forget safety and traffic rules. One had to approach this with “bravado”. After scaring Krista half to death, we are on the great Pan-American “Hole-way”, (I mean “highway”), headed south to El Salvador. I’m cruising on this highway at 80 km/hr just leaving Guatemala City and realize there was an unshielded man-hole that I just went over – I must have missed that thing or my little car’s tire would be toast.
As we leave the city headed south, we travel through the high plateau areas of farming land, spotted with villages. After several hours on the road we see another sign guiding us toward El Salvador… … but I continue to wonder if we may be off track to Santa Leticia, perhaps crossing a more westerly border.
At 3 hours, we finally get to the correct crossing! But, hold on… …. … a dozen peasant-looking men all surround our car are shouting something in Spanish. With my limited Spanish, I understand that they want to help me with money exchange, passport assistance, women, or whatever I may need for my trip. I say “no gracias” and pull forward… … they follow us. I see some officials near the crossing, but none giving any directions so I pull over to the side where other cars are parked unattended. Again, this group hounds me – I wave them off and escort Krista out of the car. We walk into the building at the crossing. After waiting in line to get our passports checked and stamped, we are told to cross the bridge and pay (at least that’s what we gathered the official was saying in Spanish).
We cross the bridge and in El Salvador we get a “Bienavidos” banner and a policeman guiding us to another building. Just up the hill a kilometer, we are stopped by 4 armed officials. They want to check my license, passport, title. They search the car including the trunk casually and send me on my way.
We begin ascending into the mountainous region of the Sierra Apaneca Illamatepec where the best of El Salvador’s coffee is grown. We feel the air cool as we rise and a slight breeze. Men, women and children line the road sorting coffee cherries from the day’s harvest. It is about 4:00 pm in the afternoon. The hillsides are covered with coffee trees and rows of cypress trees for wind breaks. About 1 hour later we arrive at Hotel Santa Leticia – just 3 kilometers east of Apaneca. The mountain air is cool, and a slight breeze is felt from the east.
A pilsner for me and rojo vino for Krista on the patio is the first order of business. Then to the registration desk to check in. A swim in the pool just outside our door feels great before dinner at the restaurant of the Hotel.
Brothers Maurice and Ricardo Valdivieso walk up and we greet. They have Maurice’s daughter Alexis (Francisco’s sister) with them.
--------------, the farm manager joins us for a farm tour. --------- is responsible for the maintenance of the farm and harvest. His knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation. One of the most unusual things about this coffee region is how the coffee is boxed in with 30 foot high hedge of trees. He explains how these intricate wind breaks box in the coffee to protect the coffee trees from the cross winds that are so common in these mountains in Southwestern El Salvador. Rick tells me that only the people who live in these mountains know where and how to manage these wind breaks.
We take a short drive on a county road to walk the farm. Fine ash dust from the volcano eruption in October covers the foliage giving the coffee leaves a grayish tint on the green leaves except for the new leaf growth. Trees at this elevation of the farm (approximately 4000 feet) have been picked 2 times. The third picking begins Monday. Most of the fruit is red with some green on the same trees. Pacamara and Bouborn. Some bourbon at this elevation is 100 years old. The bourbon did not do as well through the hurricane and ash as the pacamara. The bourbon is a lankier tree some towering 30 feet or more. Branches are bent over to get to the fruit. Pacamara are more dense trees with many more leaves and growing broader.
We come to these large stones that are egg shaped and maybe 4 feet across, weighing over 1000 pounds. These are the pot bellied idols, first dug up by Rick in the 1950’s when he came back from the war. Archeologists believe these to be from the first Mayan civilizations and about 3500 years old. One archeologist suspects there are pyramids under the farm. While Rick has allowed excavations for seeking out more idols and other artifacts (7 have been unearthed), and open National Geographic and tourists to archeological walks around the farm, he is not ready to allow complete destruction of his coffee farm.
We drive further deeper into to the farm. It is very dense forest. Rick points out trees of cedar, avocado, lemon, and pine. Some have asked him why he keeps these trees here, when he could get better coffee yields by thinning some of these trees. He simply responds that because they were here when he was a boy running through this farm, he wants to preserve the natural beauty of this place. Rick has an unusual interest in conservation, noting that over 1000 species of birds have been accounted for on this farm, many of which are dependant on this farms shade canopy in their migration.
We come to a view point and look at volcanic ridge that includes Santa Ana that is now flattened after erupting in October. Back into truck to the highest elevation of farm, up to 5000 feet which is the highest point at this latitude for coffee. As we hike, we see Apaneca and the Ocean below. About 20 miles from the Ocean.
The coffee is milled in Apaneca. So we drive to the mill which is protected by an armed guard at the gate. We view the receiving area, pulping, fermentation, and drying patios. Traditional density sort with slanted table and a modern color sorter is used at this mill.
I ask Rick about the Peaberry sort for us. He directs me to a table where about 80 women hand sort out the Peaberry. It is Sunday, so I take this vision home with me of these 160 hands picking out my prize of the crop.
Part of balancing the time with my wife on some non-coffee related parts of our trip, the next day we took a horse back ride. Joining us is two young women from England who met each other the previous night in a hostel in Juayua and a young man, who has an inn in Juayua who is escorting the 2 women.
We ride up a windy trail passing coffee plants as we go uphill to a rain forest. As we rise to about 1600 meters toward the peak of the mountain, we overlook Ahuachapán and beyond this, the Guatemala desert. Soon the coffee plants are not seen and we are in a native forest. Part of the trail is grown over, the horses knowing the path, bring us up higher. We go through a dense forest of pine and cedar trees, with orchids in the trees and ferns on the ground. It is cool and humid in the canopy of trees and dense plants underneath. Krista and I are surprised of the diversity of scenery, some not unlike we see in the Coastal Range of Oregon.
As we come through the rain forest on the other side of the mountain ridge, we see beautiful vistas of the volcanic mountain range to the east. And again more coffee interspersed between the forested lands.
We offer to take Julio our guide out for lunch in Juayua. I’m starting to think we are the only gringos in the country. Its Sunday market day and it is a festival of street vendors, live music, and crowds. We drink beer and eat pupusa, (a unique El Salvador treat of hot, greasy thick tortilla often filled with meat or beans and cheese).
After a fun day of horse back riding and the colorful village of Juayua, we head back to our room at Santa Leticia and get a surprise visit from Rick. He invites us for dinner… … …our last at Santa Leticia. We give our final farewells, and invite Rick to a wine tour when he’s in Oregon this summer visiting his brother Maurice.
We check out of Santa Leticia Hotel to explore the Pacific Coast. After our two hour journey from Santa Leticia we arrive to El Sunzal, the internationally recognized surf spot, famous for the long breaks on this south facing beach. After checking into our beach front room, we take a walk on the black sand which is scorching. My wife leaves me for her book at the pool, while I indulge in some body surfing in the 80 degree Pacific. Just before dinner at the hotel on the bluff, we watch the sun set over the ocean.
We realize that here in El Sunzal, we will end this leg of our trip through El Salvador and head back to Guatemala tomorrow. The next morning the sun rises over the ocean which leaves me perplexed from seeing the sun just set over the ocean the night before from the same vantage point. Did I have too many Cervessas the night before? No… … this is the result of being on a south facing point of El Salvador’s Pacific – a remarkable experience.
With reflection of this rising and setting of the sun over the Pacific, I am reminded how the Valdivieso family both respects the past and protects the future of Santa Leticia. The past people and culture of the Mayans is honored by their family farm while the Patron looks toward the future of protecting the farm with such practices as traditional shade grown coffee under a native tree canopy. Now when I roast Santa Leticia from El Salvador, I grab a handful of seeds out of the cooling tray and am flooded with memories of our origin trip.
