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A brief history of coffee production

Coffee was introduced to El Salvador from the Caribbean in 1742 (1740).

In the mid-19th century, El Salvador's original export pillar Indigo (Indigo, a dye) gradually declined due to the development of synthetic dyes in Europe, and coffee gradually became the main export product under the leadership of the government.

In 1856, the first 693 bags of coffee beans were shipped to Europe. Europe was El Salvador's leading coffee customer until World War II, when it was replaced by the United States.

In the 1970s, El Salvador produced a record 350,000 bags of coffee. As the civil war intensified, the coffee industry was in turmoil.

Coffee production in El Salvador was affected by domestic political instability, and the civil war was suspended after the parties signed a peace agreement in 1992. The coffee industry is beginning to recover.

Coffee production status

"Natural disasters" and "bad luck" are the words that describe the challenges facing El Salvador's coffee industry. Although it has escaped the shadow of war, El Salvador's coffee production still faces challenges from time to time, including: hurricane in 1998; earthquake in 2001; volcanic eruption in 2002; and leaf rust in 2012.

Despite these challenges, El Salvador has maintained a high coffee production, consistently ranking in the top 15 of ICO member countries for total coffee production between 2008 and 2012, according to ICO International Coffee Organization data. In 2013, affected by leaf rust disaster, 70% of farms in China were infected, and the yield dropped sharply by about 40%, ranking down to 16.

El Salvador 08-13 Total coffee production and ranking (unit: 000 bags, 60kg per bag) Coffee varieties

The chaos caused by the civil war affected economic development, but ironically allowed the ancient coffee species to remain. The situation was too chaotic for Salvadoran coffee farmers to catch up with the trend of coffee variety renewal in Central and South America.

El Salvador produces 100% Arabica coffee, of which 68% is Bourbon (Coffea arabica var. Bourbon), 29% Pacas, the rest include Pacamara, Caturra, etc.

Pacas, first discovered in Salvador in 1949, is a natural hybrid of Bourbon and Catula.

Pacamara, an artificially selected variety of pacas and maragogipe (or maragogype), was first bred in 1958 (one said 1954). Pacamara is a rare excellent variety under artificial breeding. Green is better than blue. It perfectly inherits the advantages of the mother plant. It has the excellent taste of pacas and the big size of malagogipe. Pacamara species are thought to be the result of the pursuit of larger Arabica species.

coffee planting

Most are grown by small farmers. Classification of Salvadoran farmers: (1 htct= 105 mu = 10000 square meters)

Small farmer, small producer, area less than 7.0 hect;

Medium farmer, medium producer, area between 7.0-70hect;

Large farmer, large producer, area greater than 70hect.

Farmers use traditional planting methods with almost 100% shade.

coffee harvest

Hand picked.

The harvest season lasts from October to March. The peak occurs between November and February.

coffee processing

Water washing treatment, sun drying