Las cruces, chalchuapa, santa ana, el salvador. la esperanza (tablón el carmen) hazelnut, cocoa, marzipan, key lime the family that runs this farm, the pacas family, has been producing coffee for three generations, and has always been at the forefront of coffee research. they’re continually investing in improvements to their farm: this year they’ve lined their receiving tanks with tiles, making them easier to clean, and have experimented with sorting coffee at different levels of ripeness to increase complexity in the cup. they’ve also split up the farm into different lots, or tablones. why separate a farm into lots? for one, the farm covers a wide range of elevation, from about 1000 to 1600 masl. this difference in elevation contributes to coffee ripening at different times in different areas of the farm. lot separation makes it much easier to pick the coffee when it is ripest — hired pickers can focus on certain lots at the right time. it’s also helpful to be able to do experiments with only certain areas of the farm, and then taste those differences on the cupping table. when colleen, our coffee buyer, cupped the lots side by side, one in particular stood out, and that’s the one we’re now offering: tablón el carmen.
