Clifton Coffee - E1 Project - Direct trade - Single Origin Espresso: Finca Bella Vista

From Andy - Head of Coffee at Clifton Coffee:

"Since we began roasting in April 2013, one of the stable products in our line-up has been our ‘E1 Single Origin’ Espresso. So in February of this year, we decided to invest further into the improving the supply chain for this coffee by hunting out a farm that we could trade directly with the producer and bring back to Bristol as a UK exclusive. We turned to El Salvador as a producing country because it continues to offer a wonderful variety of cup profiles. As central America’s smallest country, it delivers big flavoured coffee of exceptional quality.

Fernando Lima is the manger of the Cuzcachapa Cooperative in the town of Santa Ana at the foot of the Santa Ana mountain range. Fernando has spent many years representing his producers (as well as running his own farm) – helping coop members with developing their farms, improving their crop quality and helping them get their crop to market.

Finca Bella Vista immediately stood out on the cupping table as a super well balanced, sweet round cup with a subtle acidity and yet all the body needed to deliver the cup profile we need for our ‘E1' offering.

Located in the department of Santa Ana, Canton Lomas de San Marcelino, Bella Vista sits between 1450 to 1750 meters above sea level and is dominated by the plantation of Bourbon coffee under shade. One of the things that struck us when visiting Bella Vista was how beautiful and dense the tree canopy was. The farm has around 85 acres of primary original forest,which has never been touched and is protected as a natural forest.

Situated in the heart of the coffee growing region of the Apaneca – Ilamatepec mountain range in the shadow of the Llamatepec volcano, the name ‘Bella Vista’ originates from the beautiful view of Coatepeque Lake in the valley ahead. Annual rainfall averages at 2300mm and we were super impressed by the quality of the cherry still on the tree in February which is quite late in the season by comparison. The farm has also been fortunate to avoid much of the vast devastation caused by the Roya disease on so many neighbouring coffee farms in the region and this has given us a lot of confidence about building a long-term partnership and working with this farm for several years to come.
Started in 1925 by Jose Leonardo Figueroa, who began working by buying some small local lots in the area, little by little building up his surroundings until it became the farm size today (250 ‘manzana’ equating to around 480 acres.) Sadly, in 1991 Jose Leonardo Figueroa died and the farm has been owned by his son, Jose Eduardo Figueroa Arbizu & Company from that point to now.

The farm is run by Don Carlos Mancia and it was Carlos that took the time to show us around this stunning farm.

Since 2009 Bella Vista has been participating in the Cup of Excellence event and has placed highly each year earning 9th place in 2015 following 26th place in 2014. The result in this year’s competition again adds further confidence to the long-term consistent quality of production at Bella Vista and we are thrilled to be bring this coffee to our offering as our first true Direct Trade."