EL SALVADOR HELVETIA anaerobic 96h

ABOUT THE FARMER

Mauricio Escalon was born into a coffee-growing family that began its coffee history in the third quarter of the 1800s. In the 1870s, his great-grandfather, Pedro Jose Escalon, began farming a plantation in Santa Ana. Later, he founded El Molino (The Mill) – the first industrial coffee processing enterprise in El Salvador. At the end of the 20th century, the family business fell on hard times due to the price crisis. However, with the involvement of Mauricio, he got a second wind. In 2003, Cafescal was created with the strategy of following the philosophy of specialty. The name of the company stands for “Cafes Escalon Calderon”, where Calderon is the surname of Mauricio’s mother. Now the family business has 10 farms and 2 mills. Mauricio is the managing director of Cafescal specialty coffee export company. He is responsible for the administration and management of agricultural processes. A passion for coffee played a key role in his life, because despite a degree in architecture and experience in the field of public construction, Mauricio returned to the family business. Farm Helvetia is located in the Ilamatepeq mountain range, not far from the tourist town of Concepcion de Ataco. It was founded in the 1960s and at the beginning only Bourbon was grown on all 35 hectares, which still makes up 90%. The other 10% is occupied by Pacamara. In addition to coffee, the Escalon family also grows orange trees here. Due to its high location in the mountains of El Salvador, Helvetia’s climate ranges from foggy and humid during April to October (winter season) with temperatures ranging from 19º -33º C; to dry, cool and windy 10º -21º C during November-March (summer season). Coffee from Helvetia was among the winning lots of the Cup of Excellence in 2005, 2009 and 2012. And the farm itself was chosen by the National Coffee Program as a training place for coffee farm administrators

ANAEROBIC TREATMENT 96 HOURS

All coffee is carefully selected by hand before delivery to the collection center. Then the berries are placed in containers from which the air is completely pumped out. The fermentation process in an anaerobic environment lasts 96 hours.

After that, the coffee is dried on the patio until the skin of the berries acquires a pronounced dark color, and the grain is completely separated from the dried pulp. This can be determined by its characteristic tapping inside the dried shell. Drying continues until the moisture content of the grain reaches 12%. Then the berries are collected in bags and stored like this for several months.

At the last stage, the coffee is sent to the haller to remove all the upper layers. The final product is packed in jute bags with GrainPro protection and sent for export