White chocolate, pear, vanilla
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Santa Ana Volcano |
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1,650 meters above sea level. |
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Red Bourbon |
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Natural Anaerobic 48h. |
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Jaime & William Catota |
Specialty anaerobic coffee from the Santa Ana Volcano
Miramar and the "last Mohicans" of coffee
Miramar is the name of Jaime Catota and his son William's farm in the region of the famous Santa Ana Volcano , in Palo de Campana, El Salvador. The farm sits above Lake Coatepeque at an altitude of 1,650 meters.
Jaime and his son William are the last members of their family still growing coffee. But it wasn't always this way.
Not long ago, there were many more Catotas who had their own plantations and dedicated themselves to growing coffee. And not just this family.
But due to the conditions imposed by the coffee markets and low prices, many have sold their farms to go to work in the city, and others have switched from coffee to corn plantations.
Jaime and William are among the few remaining coffee farmers who maintain their coffee plantations, and thanks to their know-how, hard work, and dedication, they do an excellent job and produce great coffee.
The industrial coffee trade and its impact on the local economy
The Catotas, like many others, took their coffee to a large processing plant.
This plant financed them with high interest rates, taking the harvest as collateral, and then paid them for the harvest at a price below the production price, to make it cheaper.
This put the Catotas in a situation where their harvest was barely enough to pay the interest and the loan, so once the harvest was delivered they had to ask for another loan.
This way, they were in a spiral that forced them to sell to large processing plants at a low price.
The impact of specialty coffee and direct contact on the economy of the area
This situation is not unique to Jaime and William, nor to El Salvador, but is quite common in many regions where coffee is grown.
Specialty coffee is not just a score given in a cupping session, but is a concept that means much more.
It means valuing the entire production chain, from coffee grower to cup, where everyone receives a reward commensurate with their work and allows them to live a dignified life. And without coffee growers, there would be no coffee.
Since they began working with processing plants specializing in specialty coffee, Jaime and William have received interest-free financing and are paid double the C-Market price.
48-hour anaerobic fermentation
Jaime and his son have begun working with Productor Coffee, a specialty coffee processing plant run by Rodolfo Ruffatti. They have developed a coffee with a short 48-hour maceration.
The maceration process, also called anaerobic fermentation (since it takes place in the absence of oxygen), consists of letting the cherries macerate in their own juice with water for a period of time, in this case 48 hours.
This enhances the fruity notes. A normal "natural" process is then followed, and the cherries are left to dry on raised beds for 3-4 weeks. This allows for a very balanced coffee.
