A easy drinking mix of brown sugar and dark chocolate in this cup is finished with a soft plum and biscuit sweetness into the aftertaste.

Gloria Rodríguez is a well-known coffee producer for a reason. Hers is a name you will probably recognise if you've been buying from us for any length of time, as she's been bringing us coffees from Finca San José and (this one) Finca Nejapa since 2009. She's a fourth-generation coffee grower and owns and personally supervises six small farms located in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range of El Salvador: Nejapa, San José, Mamatita, El Porvenir, Nueva Granada and La Lagunita.

This estate sits on the slopes of the Laguna de Las Ninfas (which translates to "water lilies lagoon"). It has a spectacular view over the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range, including the impressive Itzalco volcano, and even out to the Pacific Ocean and the port of Acajutla. This region is in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor System that stretches down through Central America, all the way from Mexico to Panama. In El Salvador, where more than 80% of the country's coffee is produced under shade, this ecosystem is concentrated heavily in coffee forest. For this reason, farms such as Nejapa play a vital role as a sanctuary for hundreds of migratory and native bird species.

This coffee comes specifically from the Los Vientos tablón of Nejapa. The farm has 18.2 hectares in total, of which 6.3 hectares are dedicated to growing coffee. The coffee-growing area is divided into three separate plots: Los Vientos (2.1 hectares), Hamburgo (1.4 hectares), and Roma (2.8 hectares). A further 7 hectares have been reforested with cedar and a diverse range of shade trees – a deliberate move to preserve soil health and support the local wildlife that calls the farm home.

Finca Nejapa was inherited by Gloria's father, José María Rodríguez Herrera, in the 1950s. At the time, the property was devoted to dairy cattle, and it was José María who made the shift – planting Bourbon trees and noticing, little by little, just how well coffee thrived here. Seventy years on, the farm has expanded its varietal range to include Red and Yellow Caturra, Red and Yellow Pacamara, Red, Orange and Yellow Bourbon, Geisha, and Elephante. The terroir is exceptional: ideal altitude, sandy loam soils rich in organic matter, and the kind of quiet consistency that comes from generations of careful stewardship.

Gloria also runs an annual seedling nursery on the farm, propagating new plants exclusively from seeds selected within her own properties. It's a quiet but meaningful practice – by keeping the gene pool in-house, she ensures each new generation of trees is already adapted to Nejapa's specific soils and microclimate, maintaining both varietal purity and the consistency that's made her coffees so reliably special over the years.

Gloria works under strict speciality coffee standards and employs around 35 people during harvesting season, with a permanent "winter works" team of 15 year-round. The idea is a solid, skilled working group who receive better wages and conditions in return for their dedication. During harvest, Gloria pays around 90% above the legal minimum wage – an incentive that translates directly into care and attention at picking. After each production cycle, she provides a proportional bonus that typically equates to 1.2 months' worth of extra income for her year-round team.

When our green buyer Roland visited the farm, he came across the set of scales used to weigh harvested cherry at the entrance to Nejapa – a classic counterweight type, complete with a set of metal weights. It might sound like a small thing, but it's exactly the kind of detail that matters: this is how workers' wages are calculated, and well-maintained, accurate scales are a mark of a farm that takes fairness seriously. Roland put them to the test himself, going through the full calibration process. That same day, he'd also been over at Gloria's nearby Mamatita farm watching the harvest in full swing – and had a go at picking himself. Coffee farming, in other words, is not something our buying team observes from a distance.

Gloria supervises the whole process directly, with the support of Antonio Avelino, her farm foreman.

• Country: El Salvador
• Department: Ahuachapán
• Municipality: Apaneca
• Nearest city: Ataco
• Farm: Finca Nejapa
• Tablón: Los Vientos
• Owner: Gloria Rodriguez
• Farm size: 18.2 hectares
• Coffee growing area: 6.3 hectares
• Tablon size: 2.1 hectare
• Processing method: Washed
• Varietal: Red Bourbon
• Altitude: 1,470-1,570 m.a.s.l.

Tasting notes: Brown sugar, plum, dark chocolate.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean cup: 6/8
• Sweetness: 6.5/8
• Acidity: 6/8
• Mouthfeel: 6/8
• Flavour: 6/8
• Aftertaste: 6.5/8
• Balance: 6.5/8
• Overall: 6.5/8
• Correction: +36
• Total: 86/100

If you would like to find out more about how we score coffees, make sure to read our blog post "What Do Coffee Cuppings Scores Actually Mean?" by clicking here.

Medium-dark
Red Bourbon is a varietal that rewards a measured hand - push too hard and you lose the brightness that lifts those fruit notes; hold back too much and the chocolate and brown sugar never fully come together. This roast threads that needle.