Our videocast: In My Mug
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Sunday Sep 13, 2015
Sunday Sep 13, 2015
Finca Noruega is located in the volcanic Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range, Apaneca, Ahuachapán. It consists of 27 hectares at an altitude of approximately 1,600 meters above sea level. This is quite high for Apaneca and it has an awful lot of shady trees (not trees of questionable character: trees that provide precious shade for the coffee trees). This makes the crop mature much more slowly than some of the other farms: this means the coffee really only comes into full production towards what is thought to be the end of the season in El Salvador. The farm grows both Bourbon, as in this case, and a small amount of Pacamara. In total the farm produces around 400 bags which is really not so big.
It's owned by our friends Carmen and Rafael who you may recognise from the other amazing coffee farms Finca Siberia and Finca La Fany. The name for this farm is one of those amazing love stories of boy meets girl. I'll let Carmen tell the story in her words...
"This farm has a romantic tint to it. Rafael´s grandparents met in San Francisco, California, when young around the 1930s. Sara Valdivieso Borja was from El Salvador and sent to school in California; she met Ralph Hoff, another student, who came to San Francisco to study all the way from Norway. They fell in love, got married and established their residence in El Salvador after renaming the farm Noruega (“Norway” in English) on behalf of the husband Ralph. He learned to work and love the land, and he made it prosper. They had an only child, Thelma, who continued the legacy through her 5 children."
A lovely story and a lovely coffee.
In the cup you get a beautiful blast of green apple acidity, that's followed right up with a buttery mouthfeel that dominates the mouth. It then goes in another direction of dark chocolate sweetness and a gentle white grape acidity that keeps you coming back for more.
- Country: El Salvador
- Department: Ahuachapán
- Municipality: Apaneca
- Farm: Finca Noruega
- Farmer: Carmen and Rafael Da Silva
- Farm size: 27 hectares
- Coffee growing area: 27 hectares
- Altitude: 1,610 m.a.s.l.
- Variety: Bourbon
- Processing system: Pulped Natural
- Location: Latitude: 13.845794 Longitude: -89.809667