Los Andes

Los Andes is a Cup of Excellence award winning farm in the heart of El Salvador’s Apaneca Ilamatepec Mountains. It is owned and managed by Ernesto Menéndez Argüello, whose family has been farming coffee for four generations. Ernesto is an experienced cupper and has taken part in the COE as well as various other events organized by the SCAA.  

 Los Andes lies at an average altitude of 1720m in the foothills of the Santa Ana volcano and surrounded by the Los Andes National Park. The park’s dense forest of mature cypress and pine trees create a natural wind break, helping to maintain the farm’s microclimate.

 Most of the farm’s coffee trees are at least 45 years old, with roughly 65% Red Bourbon and 35% a rare variety known locally as ‘Kenya’, which Ernesto believes is SL-28, an excellent Bourbon hybrid commonly found in Kenya.  Since 2007 Ernesto has been carrying out a replanting program, with ‘Kenya’, Red and Orange Bourbon.

 The coffee is selectively handpicked only when fully ripe, fully washed and sun dried on African beds. It is then stored in purpose built warehouses until it is ready for export.

 Los Andes was placed fifth in the Cup of Excellence 2010.