The Alvarez Family has been making coffee in the hilly area of the Santa Ana Volcano of El Salvador, the western part of the country, for over a hundred years and four generations. The fertile volcanic soils and the mild climate offer ideal conditions for coffee cultivation.
Finca La Reforma, owned by the Alvarez family, extends over 36 hectares, mainly cultivated with Red Bourbon varietal. Coffee plants are grown with the shadow tree technique, meaning they are planted under the shade of taller native trees. The picking is carried out exclusively by hand.
This lot comes exclusively from Kenyan SL-28 variety grown on the slopes of the famous Ilamatepec Volcano in Santa Ana. A recent endeavour seeking higher quality coffees and diversity of profiles, led them to plant four years ago this exceptional variety, with seeds brought directly from Africa. The plot grown to SL28 is about 6 hectares now, half of which were planted 4 years ago and the other half 2 years ago. The lot has been prepared under high-quality standards set by El Borbollon mill which has more than a hundred years of experience growing and exporting coffees within the family. In order to make this lot, coffee cherries had to meet strict ripeness level and were floated prior slow drying them on raised beds. The lot was dried on raised beds for around 20+ days : the cherries were frequently turned over to control their fermentation and have been covered during the hottest hours of the day and overnight.