Finca Noruega

Farm: Finca Noruega
Owner:  Los Naranajos 
Location:  Ahuachapan, El Salvador
Altitude:  1400-1500 masl
Varietal:  Pacamara
Process:  Natural
Tasting Notes: Apple, plum, almond nut and dark chocolate

We sourced this coffee through Falcon Coffee who had the following to share:

Finca Noruega is 43 Manzanas planted with a range of varieties from bourbon to gesha located 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.

The Technical field school which is led by Sigfredo with 6 field technicians to help small to medium producers in the are by focusing on best farm practises that are restorative for the land and soil as well as beneficial for the yield and quality of the coffee. The field school is based at Finca Noruega where there is a class held twice a month for the students. Throughout the year there are 3 modules and these look to focus on the 4 R's the program have developed for soil health.

Right Source.

Right Dose.

Right Place.

Right Moment.

This year they have 60 students and at Finca Noruega where the technical school is based the students work the test plots where they can implement the knowledge gained in class before applying it to their own farms.

This lot is made up solely of pacamara that was picked selectively before being taken to the wet mill and drying beds at Beneficio San Rafael located between 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 Pacamara is washed and floated before then being laid out on drying beds for between 25 - 30 days where it is moved every hour until ready.

This year Falcon also helped organise training in EL Salvador in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services by sending the head of the Micro lot program from the Aruco Cooperative in Honduras there for a week of training. Carlos Estevez helped them understand experimental processing and how to implement this as he had learnt from Simon Brown through Falcon. The results were very positive as Finca Los Angeles placed 5th and Finca Noruega 15th in their very first attempt with these new processes.