Puerto Arturo Pac 120N – Long Maceration

Puerto Arturo Farm has been owned by Alvaro Moises’ family for several generations and is located just outside the town of Apaneca. This is the second year we have worked with his company. He is a very interesting coffee farmer, as he is an architect and was one of the founders of Salvanatura, a nature NGO that manages several national parks in El Sal.

Since El Salvador was largely overpopulated and deforested, there weren’t really many official nature reserves. They were created as a result of the civil war, when people left the country and the most remote areas became forests again. A group of people founded Salvanatura as a private NGO and were able to reach an agreement with the government to manage some nature reserves.

Alvaro ran this organization for several years, and it shows in his coffee farm. He collects rare trees, creating a small sanctuary for the reproduction of native trees. It also improves the ecosystem of his coffee farm. He is a farmer who cares about the soil and the health of his trees, cares & creates a good balance in his ecosystem.

He uses some interesting techniques, such as growing some Liberica trees that act as traps for the Broca insect. Because Liberica cherries ripen at a different time than Arabica cherries, the Broca insect migrates to the Liberica trees and he harvests them early to catch the Broca insect before it reproduces. While other coffee farmers simply spray chemical agents against these insects, Puerto Arturo manages it naturally. This is just one of many techniques Alvaro uses to reduce the use of chemicals in his operation.

Alvaro is a good friend of Rodolfo & we are happy to work together with him. He didn’t know where to sell his coffee, so until now he gave it to better-known growers who sold it as their own, so he received little recognition. Now we offer his coffee here through the Coffee School Project & work together on sustainable ways to create good ecosystems on coffee farms.