At Finca San Antonio, harvesting is done between February and March. Each hand must know exactly how to determine when the coffee is “maduro”—or the perfect ripeness. Although hard to describe, this is achieved when the cherry is a very dark burgundy red. Another technique used to determine whether it’s ready is to take one of the cherries and squeeze it very carefully over the palm of the hand. If the fruit yields 4-5 drops of juice, then its ready for picking.

All the coffee is handpicked, providing work for 25 families in the local community. The San Antonio beans are delivered at the end of every day to wet mill, “Beneficio Vivagua”. The mill workers will then start sorting and processing around 8 o’clock every evening.

The Region
Finca San Antonio sits on the slope of the San Salvador Volcano, growing coffee at elevations of 5,000 – 5,900 feet, where frequent strong winds allow for the plantation to be shade-grown. This means the coffee beans are planted under the shade of trees, but they still receive intermittent sunlight as the trees sway in the winds. San Antonio has taken this one step further, strategically pruning trees to allow for just the right amount of light to shine through. The farm is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor System, which stretches from Mexico all the way to Panama. When this protected land enters El Salvador, it passes through the shade-grown coffee regions, which act as a substitute forest, playing a vital role as a sanctuary for most of the 520 migratory and native bird species in this part of the world.