Trabant Coffee is featuring coffee from El Salvador coffee farm La Montaña this month in order to help support the farm, which lost 90% of its crop to a recent storm. The storm’s heavy winds and low temperatures hit La Montaña harder than most farms in the Chalatenango region; the average farmer lost 60% of his crop. This comes at a tragic time for La Montana, as the farm had just begun garnering international attention for its high quality.
Last year, La Montaña’s coffee was named #1 in the prestigious Cup of Excellence competition. Its coffee, a Pacamara heirloom, beat out hundreds of other El Salvadorean coffees in a blind taste test scored by a panel of international coffee experts. That winning lot of coffee fetched $15.55 per pound green during the auction following the competition. For perspective, this is more than 11 times the Fair Trade Price. These prices allow farmers like La Montaña’s Raúl Ochoa Hernández not only to invest further in quality improvements, but to improve the standards of living for his family and the families of the farm’s pickers. Without much of a crop this year, things will be tough for those that depend on the farm for a living.
Local coffee bar Trabant Coffee has been maintaining a close relationship with El Salvadorean coffee growers for two years now. They visited several Cup of Excellence farms back in February 2006, then flew one of the farmers up to Seattle in May 2007. José Rafael Molina, of 2004 Cup of Excellence winning farm Bosque Lya, spent several days behind the counter at Trabant serving his coffee to customers. Customers enjoyed the opportunity to ask him about his role in producing quality coffee, and enjoyed learning about the ways he goes above and beyond in promoting environmental and social responsibility his farm. In turn, José reflected that the experience of watching customers enjoy his coffee so much inspired him to work even harder on producing quality, socially responsible coffee.
When Trabant received an email from their friend Luis at the Consejo Salvedoreño de Café (Salvedorean Coffee Council) about the devastation at La Montaña, they immediately put in an order for that coffee. Says Trabant owner Tatiana Becker, “What farmers like Raúl are doing in terms of quality is cutting edge. We want to make sure that Raúl can overcome his loss this year and keep pushing up the quality standards, while at the same time taking good care of his family and the families of the pickers that work on his farm.”
