Presentation Finca Nejapa, Ahuachapán, El Salvador
We've got limited edition on two boxes of different coffee from the same farm. One being the Red Caturra and one the Yellow Caturra - grown side by side at Finca Nejapa. This is a little extra fun since Luis Rodrigues is the most skilled producers I've met when it comes to varieties and agriculture. At the bottom of this post you've got a short video, in home video quality, from our last visit where Gloria and Luis tells a little about the history of the farm.
Yellow Caturra, Finca Nejapa, growing side by side with the Red Caturra
Red Caturra.
Finca Nejapa is a family driven business. We just by the end of this January (2017) went to visit the owner Gloria Rodriguez and her son in law, Luis, at Finca Nejapa. Nejapa is divided into different tablons and this is the coffee from the Roma tablon. The Caturra from this tablon was also the first Caturra to make it to Cup of Excellence.
The farm is pretty managed, Luis is super when it comes to agronomy and botanics. Walking the farm with him is better than any book I've read on varietals.
However, it all started when the farm was inherited by Gloria’s father, José María Rodríguez Herrera, in the 50’s. By that time the property was only devoted to cattle for milking purposes, and it was José Maria who started growing coffee of the Bourbon variety, little by little he noticed coffee was extremely productive in that area.
Nejapa farm also got 7 hectares reforested with cedar trees of approximately 10 years old. The farm also has a diversity of shade trees, which helps maintain and preserve both the soil conditions and a wide variety of birds and small mammals that can be seen even in the region. This farm is on the slopes of the Laguna de Las Ninfas (Water lilies lagoon) with a spectacular sight over the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range.
Every year, Gloria establishes nurseries with selected seeds to keep her farm in good shape, balance production and secure future crops. Tablón Roma, that we are buying, is located in the western side of Finca Nejapa but was left unplated until 10 years ago, when Gloria obtained a loan through a local Investment Bank to redevelop and re plant this area. The variety chosen for this plot was just these Red and Yellow Caturra, in those days it was in vogue planting this short-size producing tree with good yields needed to repay the loan, gladly variety and terroir combination resulted in great quality coffee as well. The trees are growing side by side and this year Luis and Gloria has separated the lots for you to be able to try them side by side.
Nursery consistently filled with new plants at Roma. However the roof blow off due to heavy wind the day before our visit.
At the end of December 2016 we did a charity dinner with Mathias Dahlgren and WINETRADE for Finca Nejapa. We collected 35000SEK that will go to new solar panels and filter for clean water at the farm. This will be handed over in January 2017 when we visit Finca Nejapa.
Red Caturra and Gloria Roudigues right shoulder, Yellow Caturra on my left shoulder.
FACTS
Producer: The Rodriguez Family
Farm: Finca Nejapa
Tablon: Roma
Region: Ahuachapán, Santa Ana
Varietal: Red Caturra + Yellow Caturra
Note: This farm was awarded in El Salvador Cup of Excellence in 2008 and 2009 with just the Roma lot being the first Caturra in the El Salvador COE
Picked: late January to March 2016
Elevation: 1550 masl
