Farm visit: Finca Milaydi

Judges from our latest auction program visited the winning farm, Finca Milaydi and met the family behind the coffee.

The ‘Project Origin: Best of El Salvador’ auction program for 2017 took place between April 24-30, hosting a mixture of international and national judges in El Salvador.

The event saw more than 90 submissions from six of the seven coffee-growing regions of El Salvador, which were then judged and shortened to a list of 16 finalists. The top scoring coffees in the categories of Natural, Semi-washed/Honey and Washed were announced as Champions, and the highest scoring coffee was awarded the title of ‘Best of El Salvador Champion’. This year, the title was taken out again by Ever Leonel Diaz and his washed pacamara.

Following the excitement of the award ceremony and the online auction the following morning, the international judging team left the city of Sonsonate to visit Ever’s farm. This small finca was difficult to find, as it is located in ‘El Tunel’, which as we discovered, isn’t marked on any map nor has any road signs. After several stops to ask for directions, the  international jury was welcomed to the winning farm: Finca Milaydi. 

Finca Milaydi is located at approximately 1400 masl, located near the town of La Palma in the region of Chalatenango. The farm is protected by large hills, which form the border with Honduras.

The team was greeted by a team of young children, several puppies, Ever, several friends and Jose William Diaz Diaz, winner of the Semi-washed/Honey category and neighbour of Ever. We were quickly ushered down a walking track to a house built from concrete blocks, located on the edge of a hill covered with coffee trees. To one side, Ever keeps his homemade drying beds and washing station; a modest set up, with the beds made from chicken wire and logs.

After a short walk around, some photos and an intense game of soccer with the children, the team was served a feast by Ever’s family, including local delicacies and food grown right there on the finca.

Midway through our visit, an older looking gentleman walked down the track from the road to the house, where we were eating. Ever quickly approached him for a hug and turned to us excitedly. “This is my father,” he said. “Everything I have is because of him.” Ever’s father, Vincente Rafael Diaz, has his own finca just a short walk away from Milaydi.

During all the commotion and excitement of visitors, lunch and the football game, one child sat quietly to the side with a ‘Dora The Explorer’ guitar. When we approached her, introduced ourselves and asked her name, she stood up and said “I am Milaydi Guadalupe Diaz, my father is Ever Leonel Diaz.” After meeting Milaydi, one of our international jury members had this to say:

“To be able to come to origin, to El Salvador, is just amazing. I’ve had coffee from Finca Milaydi before, back in Australia…but this experience, to be standing here, in this farm, with the man who grows this coffee with such simplicity and humility, it’s breathtaking. I don’t think he understands the scale to which people adore coffee like his, worldwide. And on top of it all, to have been able to come here and meet this girl, to know that all the while that this is Milaydi…it’s just very, very special.” 

After eating, we were taken for a walk around the finca by Ever. The coffee trees are grown on quite steep terrain, with clay-heavy soil and shade from a mixture of colpachi and pine-like trees. He grows two varietals, pacamara and pacas and the trees range between 1-6 years old. With no access for cars, the harvest is carried out each year by hand or on horseback. This is an amazing feat, considering that the slope to view the main plantation was difficult enough to walk down and up without any additional weight.

When asked about special methods to grow his coffees, Ever simply replied that he didn’t use anything particularly special. “It’s just a special place and it is good for the coffees here.” He did, however, mention a physical characteristic on his pacamara trees that helped him to identify quality: “When the coffees are good, they have these pezones [nipples] on the end of the cherry” he laughed. “Pezones means quality.”

We are grateful to have been able to spend quality time with Ever and his family and we wish them the best in their future harvests. We look forward to visiting them again soon!

Finca Milaydi’s washed pacamara scored 89.6 and was won in the online auction by Peaberry Ltd, in Thailand.

 

Milaydi Guadalupe, namesake of Finca Milaydi.