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Overview
Finca El Zapote is part of the Urrutia’s Estate Coffee
farms, a family own business whose origins date back to the 1870’s, five
generations ago, when Mr. Juan Urrutia began planting the best arabica coffee
seeds to obtain an exquisite cup of coffee. Nowadays, Gustavo Urrutia oversees
this particular farm with the support of all the family members.
Faithful to this principle in 2001, as part of a coffee
tree renovation program, they replanted the farm with Pacamara variety,
one of the world’s finest and intriguing coffees, known and prized for its
unique characteristics, these majestic beans are by their self a spectacular
coffee. On top of this, Finca El Zapote has been blessed with ideal conditions
for producing high quality coffee, taking advantage of its active volcanic
soil and few natural geysers, rich in organic material and natural potassium.
This farm is located more than 5000 ft above sea level
in the crest of the Apaneca - Ilamatepec Mountain range. Pleasant temperatures
raging from 59ºF and fresh clean air circulating from a virgin forest next
to the coffee plantation, together make up a unique scenario of a limited
coffee production developed in El Salvador.
Since the Urrutia family is working under the estate
farm coffee producers modality, they also exporter their own coffee and
personally control all the production stages - farms and the San Antonio
coffee mill - thereby providing assurance for delivering the highest standards
of quality, flavor, consistency and traceability year after year, cup after
cup.
In the social aspect of the “finca” life, they provide
steady jobs for about 100 workers and 600 during picking season, supplying
them with staples, decent housing were they have access to medical care
and school for their children all year, the family also provides free water
from a natural mountain spring to more than 6,000 people that live in the
community below their coffee plantations.
El Zapote is completely shade grown coffee and it is
surrounded by a natural forest. According to the family, their farms produce
more than 36,000 pounds of oxygen everyday and they are home to more than
24 species of mammals, 259 species of insects and over 120 species of migratory
birds. As active members and supporters of the Salvadoran Zoo Foundation
FUNZEL, their forest also serves as a release sanctuary for endangered species
rescued from abusive owners or poachers.
Other Statistics
Other Crops: Natural reserve of forest
Average Annual Rainfall: 3,000 mm
Average Temperature: 22-14ºC
Type of Soil: Red Clayish loam
Type of Shade: Mainly Ingas, and native mountain trees.
Annual Production: 230 bags (60kg)
Mill and company where lot was process: Beneficio San Antonio, Urrutia´s
Estate Coffee S.A. de C.V.
Latitude: N13º 54' 03.6" Longitude: W89º 45' 37.1"
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