El Nazareth
Sweet, bright and balanced with brown sugar sweetness, orange acidity, and notes of plum, cocoa and dark chocolate.
Mario Acosta is a fourth generation coffee farmer from El Salvador and is the proud owner of El Nazareth in El Salvador’s famous Ahuachapán region. The farm has been under production since 1908 and straddles the privileged elevation of 1,300 to 1,450 meters above sea level in El Salvadors protected biosphere of Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range.
The Apaneca Ilamatepec mountain range is a chain of four volcanoes that lies between the towns of Santa Ana and Apeneca. This famous growing region is home to many past Cup of Excellence winners (including El Nazereth that was an award winner in 2011), and recently farms from this region have been been certified under the protected Denomination of Origin classification due to the unique terroir and high cup quality.
Coffee is harvested at El Nazareth during the final weeks of December through until April. All coffee from the farm is carefully harvested by hand when perfectly ripe and meticulously sorted before being delivered for processing to the nearby Beneficio El Carmen.
Fernando Alfaro, the owner of the mill and El Carmen Estate, works with the family to process their coffee to their specifications so as to assure its quality and consistency. This lot has been wet milled and fermented for 8 hours according to the mill’s stringent methods before being fully washed and laid to dry on clay patios. Mario’s main objective is to continue the standards and encourage participation in competitions and the like to raise awareness of the quality that is harvested on his farm.
We selected this special 20 bag lot blind on the cupping table and brought it because we loved the profile of the coffee – it has a lovely sweetness and versatile cup profile. We are very happy to work with El Nazareth for the first time this year and we hope to be working with El Nazareth more and more in the years to come.
