El Salvador: La Fany, Ethiopian Heirloom

Rafael and Carmen Silva were the first producers we met when we first visited El Salvador back in 2003. Rafael is primarily occupied with running the family's multiple farms, while Carmen focusses on looking after coffee buyers like us! The business also benefits from support from their son Rafael Jr, focussed mainly on their mill Beneficio San Pedro, and son Rodrigo, who splits his time between sales and the mill. The family have been producing coffee in El Salvador since 1870, starting out with their first farm Finca Siberia. That's now expanded to 5 farms total across the Apaneca – Illamatepec Mountain Range: La Fany, La Siberia, Llano Grande, La Divina Providencia, and San Cayetano.

La Fany is a fifth-generation family inheritance that dates back to the early 1900’s. First established by Fabio Morán and passed on from father to son, the farm is named after Rafael Sr’s ancestor, his great-aunt Fany. The beautiful estate is situated in the Apaneca municipality in the north-east of El Salvador, on the slopes of the Santa Ana volcano at 1,400 - 1,550 metres above sea level, 2 miles from the city of Apaneca. Apaneca translates to “river of winds” from the native Nahuatl language, however the land that Finca La Fany sits on is nestled in a bowl shaped dip of the mountain range where most of the strong winds pass over the top, creating a distinct microclimate for the farm compared to surrounding areas.

Processing is carried out at the family’s mill, Beneficio San Pedro. This is one of the highest elevation mills in the whole of El Salvador, with unusually high humidity, so it takes extra skill to process coffees as amazingly as their team do - thanks for your awesome work guys! It’s incredibly well organised and Rafael Jr has a preference for very controlled and well balanced processing, using the latest eco-friendly technology in wet and dry milling by Penagos and Pinhalense, guaranteeing traceability and a quality chain from farm to bag.

The Anaerobic phase is carried out by adding whole cherries into airtight plastic barrels, with the time carefully measured, after which the cherry is decanted and goes out to dry on raised beds, before finishing in the covered greenhouse. By carefully measuring the variables at each stage, they are able to replicate it at a level where the flavour input from the processing is balanced against the varietal flavour and doesn’t overwhelm it.

Originally, the farm was 100% Red Bourbon but Rafael has experimented with small-scale plantings of new varieties, now including Orange Bourbon, Pacamara, Geisha, Yellow Icatu, and Yellow Caturra. This lot is the second harvest of a slightly mysterious Ethiopian Heirloom varietal. The plants came to Rafael Jr from another roaster they sell to, and he’s still in the process of more fully narrowing down the lineage. On his visit to the farm in February 2024 Roland inspected the plants with the team on site and felt they definitely look different to the Bourbon and Typica derived cultivars which are common throughout Central America.

Having tasted the very first harvest from these plants last year we were excited to see how the flavour would develop. Roland, our Green Buyer, thought that the first crop had a great silky texture but was quite a delicate coffee, and he was hopeful it would get more complex in future years as the plants became more established. That wish seems to have been granted, we can see that maturity now coming through in this year’s flavour profile.

This lot will be the last chance to try this coffee as a Natural as, based on how the coffee is evolving, we’ve asked for the next harvest to be processed as Washed. As great as the Natural is, Roland thinks there’s some potential this could be even better as a Washed so we want to see how it squares up! The advantages of being a buyer with a long relationship is you can ask Rafael Jr to have a go - as long as we buy it either way. It’s a bit of risk to see if this delivers what we want, but hopefully an informed risk!

Although the Anaerobic Natural gives this coffee some funk, Rafael Jr has said he's always keen to make sure you can taste the terroir and underlying qualities of the coffee through any processing he does. This definitely contributes to making him one of the most careful and consistent processors of coffee we know. This year he's pushed the funky character a fraction further, using slightly longer anaerobic phases, on some of his coffees such as this.

This Ethiopian heirloom varietal grown in El Salvadorian soil combined with Rafael Jr's meticulous processing creates a uniquely sweet, funky, and bright coffee. Expect fig, fresh greengage, and a little twist of lemon zest, before it finishes with treacle toffee.

• Country: El Salvador
• Department: Ahuachapán
• Municipality: Apaneca
• Farm: La Fany
• Producer(s): Carmen and Rafael Silva and family
• Farm size: 36 hectares
  
• Coffee growing area: 20.30 hectares
• Elevation: 1,450 m.a.s.l.
• Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom
• Process: Anaerobic Natural
• Mill: Beneficio San Pedro
• Yearly rain average: 2,500 mm
• Type of soil: Clay loam soil
• Type of shade trees: Ingas, Cypress, Pine, Native
• Flowering period: March to May
• Harvesting period: December to March
• GPS: 13°56'29.4"N 89°47'04.1"W

Tasting notes: Fig, greengage, lemon zest, treacle toffee.

• Clean cup: (1–8): 6
• Sweetness: (1–8): 7
• Acidity: (1–8): 6.5
• Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6.5
• Flavour: (1–8): 6.5
• Aftertaste: (1–8): 6
• Balance: (1–8): 6.5
• Overall: (1–8): 6.5
• Correction: (+36): +36
• Total: (max. 100): 87.5

Roasting Information
Medium to medium-dark: Let this one go all the way to the end of the gap, but stop before second gets going to keep the fruit sweetness rather than letting the treacle toffee overwhelm it..