Masteroast Origin Trip - The first stop was El Salvador.

Marie-Anne Rogers (Coffee buyer) and Alicia Fieldhouse (Sales Support and Technical) visit South America.

​First stop, El Salvador. We spent four days here visiting various farms of the Montesion Estate. Montesion is an environmentally responsible coffee producer, focussing much of its attention on the health and well-being of its employees. There are 6 farms, all located within the Apaneca Mountain Range. We visited 4 of the farms, otherwise known as a ‘Fincas’, including Shekinha, Shalom and Montesion Estate.

Dr and Mrs Urrutia with us in Ataco

Apeneca Mountain Range seen in the distance from the mill

The family-run business was started in 1907, and it managed day to day by Lilliana de Naraveaz and her parents, Dr and Mrs Urrutia. They hosted us throughout our trip to El Salvador and were very hospitable and knowledgeable, both about their farms and crop and their country. This picture was taken of all of us in front of a mural in a local town called Ataco which is famous for its brightly coloured arts and crafts local to the area. The favourite local cuisine in El Salvador is a corn-based pancake called ‘papousas’, they are usually filled with another favourite food, fried beans. These are two foods which can be found as a staple of any meal of the day! Marie-Anne and I had to try one… but we weren’t too keen!

​Coffee growing on the farms is mainly Arabica Bourbon varietals, but the family is experimenting with other strains for example ‘marceillesa’ which may prove to be more resistant to the harsh climate and other threats in El Salvador. El Salvador coffee production was hit hard with the 2012 Roja epidemic (otherwise known as leaf rust). Roja is a fungus which grows on the underside of coffee tree leaves and, if left to spread, can kill individual trees or even wipe out entire farms. Seedling coffee plants are grown in the nursery for up to 1 year before they are planted into the forest to ensure they are strong enough. Fortunately, Dr Urrutia and his family keep on top of the tree renewal on the farms and have kept themselves abreast of new fungicide applications available and, through a lot of hard work, have been able to save a lot of their trees, although the devastating effect of Roja is still evident on neighbouring farms. 

The nursery at Finca shalom with some 'bronze' bourbon varietals.

The Montesion dogs waiting patiently for scraps!

​We made friends with the dogs on the farm and shared our sandwiches and water. Lilliana had made some delicious banana loaf (very nice to have something sweet as El Salvadorians love their savoury food!).
From the top of the farm you can see the volcanoes on the border with Guatemala – such stunning scenery, photographs just don’t do it justice! Once we had given the foundation the remainder of the school stationary we had brought with us, we made our way back to San Salvador for the last time before our flight the next morning.

From San Salvador, we took a quick 50-minute flight in a tiny propeller plane over the border to Honduras, San Pedro Sula. We were met by Gerrado, which we quickly established is hard to say with an English accent and that Gerry is a lot easier! It was early afternoon so we had chance to go to Cadexa, a family run coffee export business on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula. The site has a maximum capacity of 300,000 tonnes of coffee which is sourced from local coops and beneficios. All coffee is passed through chromatic machines which separate any foreign bodies or discoloured beans.

Alicia Fieldhouse

The next destination on this trip was Honduras!

Central America Photos