Farm Details: Location: El Salvador, Chalatenango.

Farm: Finca Santa Rosa

Altitude: 4800 Feet

Varietals: Bourbon

Process: Honey Process

Drying: Sun-Dried on Patios Cupping Notes: Maple, Raisin, Apple, Honey

By J. Raul Rivera S.A. de C.V.

Santa Rosa Coffee Farm (A Dream Come True)Jorge Raul Rivera, President of J. Raul Rivera (1979-2013), started growing coffee in La Palma in 1979 at the beginning of El Salvador’s civil war. The area of La Palma in Chalatenango was severely affected by the country's armed conflict and Jorge Raul struggled to start the first farm at that time.Santa Rosa Farm was bought 24 years ago when coffee prices where at their prime. At that time it was just land with a few naturally grown pine trees, and there was no access to the actual farm. Jorge Raul envisioned the transformation of this plot of land into a coffee farm. Once the infrastructure to gain access was finished, coffee prices hit a major crisis, which made him and his brother, Jose Roberto Rivera, rethink what to do with the farm. At that time, the government was promoting forestry plantations and so the Rivera brothers decided it would be more feasible to establish a pine tree plantation rather than a coffee plantation due to the coffee's current pricing at that time.In the year 2002, Jorge Raul and his brother Jose Roberto became aware of the Cup of Excellence. Jorge Raul and his brother agreed that Santa Rosa would be planted with Pacamara variety in 2003 utilizing the previously planted pine tree as shade, their only purpose: winning the Cup of Excellence. Unfortunately, Jorge Raul Rivera passed away in May 2013; ironically the month when the coffee flower normally opens induced by the country's first rains. It was until The Cup of Excellence of 2014 that Santa Rosa lot 2 won first place in the Cup of Excellence, with a honey process. It was the first time lot number 2(Located at 1500 meter over sea level) competed in the cup of excellence because lot number 1 had always been the best lot within the farm (Located at the highest point of the farm 1600 meters above sea level and the most abundant sun hours). This lot along with the rest of the farm was fertilized and harvested following the guidelines to produce a Gourmet coffee. The milling process was carried out in a nearby farm owned by the same company. It was also the first time the honey process was utilized in any of the lots in Santa Rosa; Jorge Raul Rivera’s son insisted that this method would improve all the qualitative attributes of the coffee.
 
This farm is the legacy in coffee knowledge of a Jorge Raul Rivera one of the owners (1938-2013). He was not only a professor at the University of El Salvador, and taught for 10 years coffee cultivation and processing, but has worked in the area since 1978. He also pioneered the establishment of the crop in the north of the country (Chalatenango).In the future our goal is to continue working closely as currently done, especially focusing in improving the fertilization programs and milling process until the quality of our coffee becomes the standard for the fist place of the Cup of Excellence.

 Source from http://riveracoffee.com/index.html