El Salvador #13 Cup of Excellence Winner Finca Mileydi

Arrived late July from origin, new crop in vacuum packaging.

This lot from Finca Mileydi took 13th place in the El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2019 competition. Finca Mileydi is a small farm (a little over 7 acres) in the Alotpec-Metapan mountain range, run by Ever Leonel Diaz Perez. Ever Leonel started coffee growing about 16 years ago, despite having no previous experience farming the crop. He chose to plant Pacamara because he liked the large bean size and taste of the varietal. Over the years he has gained experience and upgraded his farm technology; he now has a motorized coffee pulper, instead of doing it by hand, and he has built his own raised African-Style drying beds to ensure even drying. His hard work has also paid off: Finca Mileydi placed #4 last year in the El Salvador Cup of Excellence with its washed Pacamara, the same type of coffee that won this year.

A little about the Pacamara varietal, the type of seed from which this coffee is grown. Pacamara is a hybrid Arabica coffee tree originally developed by the Salvadoran Coffee Research Institute (ISIC) in the late 1950's. It is a cross between the oversized Maragogype varietal and Pacas, a Salvadoran high yielding mutation of Bourbon varietal (the original Arabica of the Americas), called San Ramón Bourbon. The Pacas was discovered in 1956 by Salvadoran producers Don Alberto Pacas, for whom it was named, and Don Francisco De Sola along with the help of Dr. William Cogwill of the University of Florida. Pacamara has since spread to other growing locations in Central America and Africa.

• Farm: Mileydi
• Farm Size: Approximately 7.12 Acres
• Region: Alotepec-Metapan Mountain Range
• Altitude: 1800msnm
• Coffee Variety: Pacamara
• Processing: Washed