LOS ANGELES
El Salvador

Finca Los Angeles is a beautiful 23 manzana farm planted with Pacamara and maragogype, situated in the Ahuachapán mountain range in the west of El Salvador. This farm is part of the Los Naranjos group headed by Sigfredo Corado a retired professor of Agronomy from the National School of Agriculture. The farm is part of the Renacer Program (Reborn in Spanish) which is a technical coffee field school and educational program for producers in the area to learn about better farm management practices. This program is funded by Raices (Roots) and supported by Catholic Relief Services in El Salvador.

This farm is planted only with pacamara and has been under Sigfredo for 10 years. Since he took on the farm they have used no herbicides to help replenish the soil and nutrients to give a good base for growing coffee once again. The farm is broken into 23 Manzanas with approximately 3000 trees in each section. The farm is beautifully divided with shade trees and wind barriers to protect the trees. The farm is managed on a day to day basis by some of the graduates from the technical school as well.

The coffee is selectively harvested and from here it then is taken to the wet mill and drying beds at Beneficio San Rafael located bwteen the two hills of El Pilon and Cerro Aguila at 1450 masl. In the harvest this football field becomes filled with drying beds for all the coffees that come from the farms Los Angeles and Noruega. Here the coffee is washed and floated before being processed as a natural. The coffee is taken to the beds where it dries from 0830 – 1430 and then it is covered from mid – late afternoon. Teh coffee is moved every hour on the beds and takes around 30 days to dry.