El Salvador - Bosque Lya

These days Bosque Lya is managed by Joe Molina: Joe’s been been growing coffee in El Salvador for over 40 years - he’s an inspiration. As well as managing the farm Joe also teaches agronomy at the university in Santa Ana.

After careful harvesting and sorting our lot of orange Bourbon was processed by Eduardo and his team at the nearby El Borbollon mill for further QC, separation and drying.

The coffee was sun-dried here for 14 days before final check and shipping to us here at the roastery!

This is a land of volcanoes, many of them active, so the soil is rich and fertile whilst the views are strikingly beautiful and always dramatic.

Volcano Santa Ana is the largest but Izalco, with its typical conical shape, is a national icon. Such conditions are perfect for the production of high quality coffee.

In Central America, El Salvador has the nickname ‘Pulgarcito’, which means ‘little thumb’ – a reference to the diminutive size of this coffee producing nation. But packed into this little country there are some of the best farms in the whole of Latin America, and many of the coffees El Salvador produces are capable of scoring very highly on the cupping table.

More than half of the nation’s coffee is Bourbon, so there is plenty of sweetness, complexity and high acidity coffee being produced. Around 90% of the country’s coffee is also shade grown, which maintains the rich biodiversity that thrives in rural El Salvador. Micro-lots are now a common feature, and it benefits from being a nation where traceability to farm level encourages buyers looking for quality.