89.23
Nueva Granada/Hamburgo
Growers: Roberto Huezo Rodríguez & Gloria Rodríguez Fontán
Farms: Nueva Granada & Hamburgo
Variety: Elefante
Altitude: 1350-1,500 masl
Location: Ataco & Apaneca
This lot is comprised of two small plots within both Finca Nueva Granada and Finca Nejapa, tablón Hamburgo, they belong to Roberto Huezo Rodriguez and his mother Gloria Rodriguez Fontan. The lot variety is Elefante, which is a variety discovered around seven years ago on Gloria’s farms, and has Ethiopian landrace and the world-famous Bourbon genetics according to a new research carried out last year by the family with the World Coffee Research (WCR).
This variety has a few variations that are still under additional screening by the family to secure one outstanding elite coffee variety but first genotypical studies have been really encouraging and also practical results such as last year, where another lot from this same variety and farm ranked third place at 2017 CoE from El Salvador being the only washed coffee in the top five auctioned coffees.
These cherries are nearly two times heavier than Bourbon due to its larger amounts of mucilage, its mucilage flavor express both a honeysuckle or ripe papaya/tropical fruit very similar to the Ethiopian strains. Although the cherry is round, the seed express some long characters similar again to some heirloom types. In some beans it is also possible to find a little horn on one of the sides of the green bean. It is not rare to extract around 9 to 15 drops of mucilage per cherry. The tree is a low yield variety and has a high cherry-to-green bean ratio, meaning we get lower green bean for the same amount of cherry weight from this variety in comparison to Bourbon, nonetheless, screen size is better due to the larger size of the screen of Elefante.
Nueva Granada is the last farm acquired by the late Jose Maria Rodriguez, Gloria's father and Roberto’s grandfather, during the winter of 1987. It’s located at 1,350 m.a.s.l. in the town of Ataco, Ahuachapán, just 10 minutes away from Apaneca. The farm is about 5 hectares. The plot where the competing lot was taken belongs to Roberto and is only about one hectare planted with both Bourbon and Elefante.
Hamburgo is a newly planted plot on Finca Nejapa property of Gloria, it has about 3.5 hectares and only four years old plantation grown to Red Bourbon, Orange Bourbon and Elefante. This farm is located at 1,550 masl on the Nymph lagoon volcano slopes.
In order to select the lot to participate in this year's CoE, we decided to make a blend based on previous cupping sessions. We decided to compete with a combined lot from Nueva Granada (70%) honey processed Elefante and then a (30%) fully washed Elefante from Hamburgo, because of its combined cup profile. Both farms are located within 3 miles away from each other, and were treated under rigorous harvesting quality standards, carried by the same picking team, supervision of cultural practices, meticulous harvest, milling and slow drying in raised beds.
Other cultural practices include: Manual weed control, shade tree pruning, off-shot thinning, soil conservation practices, wind-break barriers management, root and stem bending, as well as a renewed attention to better nutrition of the plant and soil life improvement, among others. A huge importance is obviously given to harvesting only the ripest possible cherries, measured visually, tasting mucilage and by using refractometer. Cherries are depulped and processed the same day, dried on raise beds only for 18-20 days, aiming for 10.5 to 11% moisture, then parchment is rested for about a few days and then stored on grainpro plus jute bags.
Additional lot information
Location: Ataco and Apaneca
Varieties: Elefante
Rainfall: 2,200 mm
Soil type: Sandy Loam
Temperature: 20 °C
Elevation: 1,350 and 1,500 masl
Total production (69kg bags): 20 bags (2018)
Shade trees: Ingas Sp. (Pepeto peludo), mountain trees.
Fauna: Deer, armadillos, small felines, agouti, pocket gophers, possum, squirrels, snakes, birds of prey, magpie, etc.
Mill and company where lot was process: Beneficio El Carmen, Agricola San Agustin.
GPS Coordinates:
Nueva Granada
13° 50' 56.39" N
89° 51' 20.80" W
Nejapa
13°52'27.05"N
89°47'34.83"W
| Rank | 7 |
|---|---|
| Farm Name | Nueva Granada / Hamburgo |
| Farmer/Rep. | Roberto Huezo/Gloria Rodriguez |
| Altitude | 1350-1,500 masl |
| Country | El Salvador |
| Year | 2018 |
| City | Ahuachapan |
| Region | APANECA-ILAMATEPEC |
| Program | El Salvador 2018 |
| Month | - |
| Aroma/Flavor | Blood orange, peach, citrus, berry, dark chocolate, spice |
| Acidity | Complex, transparent, bright |
| Other | Buttery, velvety, smooth, harmonious |
| Processing system | Honey |
| Variety | Bourbón Elefante |
| Auction Lot Size (lbs.) | 720 |
| Kilos | 326.59 |
