El Salvador: Finca Argentina, SL28, Washed

Tasting notes

In the roaster’s words

El Salvador: Finca Argentina, SL28, Washed Beginning with a sweet and sticky hit of lime marmalade , the cup gains a more complex sweetness as it cools, shifting into milk chocolate , with a little shoulder of walnut . Roland last visited El Salvador in February as the harvest at Finca Argentina was just coming to an end. The farm is at a lower altitude than other producers we work with in El Salvador, so that shifts the harvest a little earlier than San Jose or Nejapa, for example. He travelled with Mauricio to visit the Los Ausoles mill to cup the various seasonal coffee lots available this year. We bought both the Natural and the Washed SL28 lots on offer, and it is the Washed SL28 that we have for you here. On The Farm Near the town of Turin, in the Ahuachapán department of El Salvador, you’ll find Finca Argentina. It’s located within the Cordillera de Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range, surrounded by natural hot springs at an altitude of 1,300 metres above sea level. The farm’s 35 hectares are separated into 7 distinct areas, or "tablons". Each of these individual plots has its own character, shaped by the landscape and the small peculiarities of microclimate that come with changes in altitude, aspect, soil, and even local volcanic activity. Over time, the team at Finca Argentina have put a lot of effort into exploring different varietals, discovering what grows best on each of the farm’s 7 tablons. The Guachipelin tablon spans 6 hectares and was replanted in 2016 with H1 (Centroamericano), Yellow Bourbon, Icatu, and a small amount of SL28. The Martinez Family The farm was first acquired by the Martinez family in 1967. Dr Luis Guillermo Martinez bought the estate, and it quickly became his favourite and produced well. By the time his son, Mauricio, inherited it in 2008, cherry yields had dropped significantly and he was unsure how best to proceed with his newly owned farm. It was here that his son, and our now good friend, Alejandro, stepped in. He had just relocated back to El Salvador after working as a city banker in New York and decided to lend a hand to his father’s business interests while looking for work. Ale’s interest was piqued when he saw that the farm had been classified for a Q auction in 2005, showing it had the potential for great coffee. He and his cousin, based in London, set about sending green coffee samples to roasters wherever they could, seeking a specialty buyer. One of those samples landed with us in 2008, and we’ve been buying

Notes

Finca Argentina is near Turin in El Salvador and is divided into seven tablons; this coffee is the washed SL28 lot from the farm.