El Salvador

La Divina Providencia

Roberto Ulloa is one of the most genuine, driven and passionate people we have come across on our coffee travels. He has twice hosted us at La Divina Providencia, making the early drive out of San Salvador to the Apaneca Ilamatepec mountain range in the west of El Salvador.

Santa Ana Volcano

The valley in which La Divina sits is mainly of volcanic origin, and is strikingly beautiful. Lago de Coatepeque, a natural lake formed in the crater of a former volcano, looms in the distance as the road climbs up to the farm, becoming rougher and less defined as it winds its way up the steep slopes of the Santa Ana volcano. Arriving in the deep forest cover of La Divina is calm and tranquil compared to the drama and noise of the journey, and allows a chance to survey and absorb the surroundings.

Roberto Ulloa

Roberto is a fifth generation coffee farmer; his family has been working with coffee since the late 19th century, when the Salvadoran industry boomed. His son, Bobby Jr., is also heavily involved, and Roberto works each day to pass on a sustainable business to him. Much of the family’s land lies at lower altitude, but Roberto made the decision to diversify over fifteen years ago, when he purchased the first of the plots that became La Divina Providencia. The land, high on the fertile volcanic slopes of Santa Ana, was initially planted in the late 19th century, by a colonial Spanish family. After El Salvador’s civil war, the lands were left abandoned by their original owners, becoming overgrown and uncontrolled.

"Some very old techniques are used, such as the Parra system, where coffee trees are bent to one side.."

Years of work from Roberto have resulted in a beautifully lush coffee forest. Using natural and manual methods of weed control, disease control and fertilisation, Roberto works with nature in order to create a functional eco-system on the farm. Varietals are planted alongside each other in the forest, rather than in monocultural plots, meaning skilled pickers are required to distinguish between Red Bourbon, Orange Bourbon, SL28, Pacamara and Geisha trees in order to keep each varietal separate throughout processing. Some very old techniques are used, such as the Parra system, where coffee trees are bent to one side in order to encourage new growth directly upwards, an alternative to stumping and heavy pruning.

Roberto also carries out processing with a careful touch. As many steps as possible are carried out manually, without using mechanical equipment that may damage the fragile germ inside the seed. This intimate level of knowledge and care in each stage of production leads to some of the most characterful coffees we have tried from this part of El Salvador.

The farm has expanded over the intervening years, mainly planting extra SL28 and Red Bourbon trees, while Roberto was excited to show us expanded numbers of Geisha and Pacamara trees this year compared to our previous visit. The SL28 planted in this part of El Salvador originates from the early days of coffee cultivation in the country, when much of the industry was controlled by a small number of powerful families. Several of them returned from a safari trip to Kenya in the early 20th century with seeds that resembled Bourbon, but had some unique characteristics. Most of the SL28 in the west of El Salvador is descended from these seeds, which is thought to pre-date the final selection of SL28, so is often referred to as ‘Kenya Bourbon’.

This month's coffees

La Divina Providencia

Washed SL28

This month’s subscription contains two instances of this ‘Kenya Bourbon’. The washed lot is de-pulped immediately and fermented in tanks for around 48 hours before the coffee is washed twice with fresh water, making sure all of the mucilage is removed.

This results in a clean and crisp profile, reminiscent of Bourbon but with enhanced red fruit notes, with a cup profile of dark chocolate, cranberries and caramel.

Natural SL28

The natural lot comes from this year’s El Salvador Cup of Excellence. Roberto and Bobby Jr. entered their finest lots from across their farms, and ended with 3 lots in the top ten. This is a true testament to their dedication and work in the field, a very impressive achievement. We bid on the only lot from La Divina, and are excited to share this lot exclusively with Discovery subscribers. This lot was dried directly on raised beds for 30 days, leading to a complex flavour profile with bright red berry notes up front from the varietal, followed up by sweet brown sugar, tropical fruit and vanilla enhanced by the process. A rare opportunity to taste one of the finest coffees of this year’s Salvadoran harvest, alongside another expression of the same raw material.

V60

Brew Guide

To enhance the profile of each process we would recommend using a high water temperature and a long bloom to increase the contact time without overly extending the “active” brew time. This should lead to faster flow after the bloom than with our standard 45 second bloom allowing a finer grind than usual.

DATA

15 grams of medium fine grind
250 grams of water 30-50 ppm 96°C

METHOD

0:00 Pour the bloom 60g

2:00 Pour up to 155g

3:00 Pour up to 250g

Total brew time should be 5:00 - 5:30

Cup of Excellence

We’re excited to share two coffees from Roberto in this month’s subscription. We’ve been in touch for several years now, and have been working to create a release like this for some time. This release aims to do justice to his incredible work, showcasing his dedication to rejuvenating the La Divina plot into a world-class coffee farm, producing some of the finest coffees in the country. The Cup of Excellence lot also marks an investment in our relationship with Roberto, in our dedication to quality, and in our commitment to share the finest coffee experiences with you each month. We hope you enjoy Roberto’s work this month.