Dear Friends, Family, and Loyal Supporters....

   In early February of this year, Owner/President Michael Johnson traveled down to El Salvador to see the harvest and processing of our Pacamara and a few other new varietals we are very excited to bring to our coffee lineup. This is the third consecutive year we have worked directly with our dear friend Luis Araujo Alonso at his farm, Finca Los Alpes, and purchased his fantastic coffee. This direct trade relationship benefits the farmer with earnings well over standard fair trade prices, and we were able to make exciting gains in quality improvement and farm sustainability. As a result of Michael's week in El Salvador, we've never been more excited about this coffee and the promise that the farm holds for future endeavors.
   In El Salvador, Michael watched coffee cherries as they were picked right off the tree. He was able to help de-pulp the fruit; which essentially involved utilizing a hand crank mechanism in order to separate the fruit from the coffee seeds on the inside. He was then able to see the washing process and finally make sure the coffee was dried properly on the patio of the farmuntil the desired 13% moisture content was reach on the beens. Next the beans, still in parchment, are placed in bags and stored in a "resting builiding" for reposo (rest period) which takes another 30 days when the beans will be mature enough for export and will find their way to Madison, Wis. We were also able to financially aid in and encourage the use of innovative bags to store the green beans in, which will help improve the longevity of the beans by not allowing moisture, air or any other undesirable potential irritant to get near the coffee when it's in the green bean phase. In the future, all of our coffees from Finca Los Alpes will be shipped and stored this way and we'll try to encourage future producer/partners to follow this example.
   A trip such as this allows us to continue our efforts to help improve overall coffee quality and also to identify and segregate newer varietals to develop micro-lots of these fantastic coffees (which were previously mixed with other farm varietals). What this means for all of you out there, is that we are going to have some even more amazing coffees coming out of El Salvador this year and for years to come. These 90+ coffees are literally crop to cup and a prime example of our ultimate goal: sourcing and roasting Just the Best Coffee!

Our producer/partner Luis Alonso Araujo on his farm, Finca Los Alpes, with his "babies" the Pacamara Cherries on the trees pre-pick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ripe Cherries (left) that will yield our fantastic Pacamara in a very short time. Notice the uniformity of color and that obviously only ripe cherries are going to go through the de-pulping process in order to ensure an amazing quality product. This is what you want to see from a Specialty Grade coffee on the tree before it's picked. It doesn't always look this way folks so rest assured that Luis has done an excellent job caring for his trees and that care translates directly to a better cup of coffee.

 

Cherries being taken off the tree (left) by one of the fantastic pickers on this farm. Due to their dedication and hard work we're sure to receive a well prepped, defect free coffee that will leave a positive, lasting impression. If you haven't tried this coffee yet, please do, the crop from these pictures will be here soon.

 

Pickers working together (above right) to sort out the few un-ripe cherries that inevitably find their way into the baskets during the day. This extra effort is one more step in the effort to control the coffee and produce a super high quality cup for you, our friends and family.

Ripe Cherries awaiting de-pulping (left). Notice the uniformity of color and the obviously only ripe cherries before the fruit is seperated from the seeds. This picture clearly illustrates how a relationship of this nature ensures both the farmers and Johnson Brothers are providing the best coffee possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of our mission this trip was to try and help the farm become more self sufficient and a big portion of that was processing some of the coffee on the farm instead of one of the bigger processing stations. Mike, Luis and the other workers used this Hand Crank (above right) to de-pulp a massive quantity of coffee. 2 days of work will result in a truly fantastic coffee and these people being one step closer to not having to rely on someone else to take care of their coffee.

Michael helping with the even turning and distribution of green beans in parchment (left) . The trip couldn't be all fun and games so it's good to see Mike getting his hands dirty out there. Keep up the good work Michael!

 

 

Here (right)you can see Luis helping his worker make sure the coffee is properly turned and evenly dried on the patio. The coffee beans are in parchment here and are drying to make sure that they reach a desired moisture content level (13%). After the beans reach this point, after much hard work, the green beans in parchment will be ready to be placed into bags and will go to the "resting building" for 30 days to ensure they are ready for export to Johnson Brothers.

A shot of Michael's quote (right) in one of the biggest cafe's (spanish apostrophe) in El Salvador. Viva Espresso has produced world class, competition level baristas for a number of years and this quote about the Pacamara appears on their offering board in the cafe'. We do love El Salvador, there's no doubt about that.