El Salvador – Finca Miravalle

ORIGIN: Apaneca, Ahuachapan

ROAST LEVEL: Medium

TASTING NOTES: Dutch cocoa, Brazil nut, chocolate-covered raisin

FARM NOTES: Finca Miravalle is owned by Luis Duarte, and is located in Apaneca, Ahuachapan, not too far from the Santa Ana volcano. Miravalle is about 1500 meters above sea level. It's part of a much larger group of coffee plots, a few of them demarcated by cultivar separations, and the larger plots a mix of cultivars. Duarte has kept his farm planted in Bourbon and Pacamara for the most part, despite the susceptibility to leaf rust. Many farmers are replanting with disease resistant varietals, but Luis Duarte has chosen to continue with these cultivars because of the commonly held belief that they taste superior to most disease resistant hybrids available and manages to prevent leaf rust and fungal outbreaks with good farm practices (proper space between plants, regular pruning, cleaning beneath the trees, directive spraying, etc). Here lies the exception, a lot separation of the disease-resistant "Tabi". This cross between Bourbon, Typica, and Timor Hybrid, created at Colombia's agricultural research institute ("CENICAFE") was produced to have the best of both worlds: disease resistance, and good cup quality. Miravalle is only a few hectares in size, and is perched on the verdant slopes of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain region. This lot is the result of a new coffee project in the region by one of the local mills, their goal being to identify the top qualities from farmers they already buy coffee from. These coffees are then kept separate throughout the milling process, sold as an individual micro-lots as opposed to being lost to large blends.

PROCESSING: Washed

DRYING METHOD: Patio Sun-Dried

ELEVATION: 1500 MASL

CULTIVAR: Tabi

**Photo credits: Sweet Marias**