El Salvador - La Divina Providencia SL-28 - Natural Process
Remarkably clean and vibrant with well-defined notes of pink lemonade, muscadine grape, and black currant complementing a honey-like sweetness and a floral aroma reminiscent of citrus blossoms.
We roast and ship Monday-Friday.
Orders received before 9am typically ship same day.
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Technical Information
Producer: Roberto Ulloa
Region: Palo Campana, Santa Ana, El Salvador
Harvest: Spring 2024
Varietal(s): SL-28
Process: Natural Process
Altitude: 1,600 - 1,950 masl
Roasters Cupping Score: 88
Agtron Gourmet Color: 105 (light)
Exporter: Coop Cuzcachapa
Importer: Royal NY
Coffee Story
On Finca La Divina Providencia, Roberto Ulloa is growing some of the finest and most sought-after coffees currently coming out of El Salvador.
Coming from a generations-long coffee producing family, Roberto's mission is to produce a small volume of the absolute best coffee possible. Instead of focusing on higher volume, low-altitude, lower-quality coffees he began acquiring small-high altitude farms on the side of the Santa Ana Volcano and focusing on attentive care in every step of production on the farm.
Finca La Divina Providencia sits at 1600-1950m above sea level and is planted in heirloom varietals under a heavy shade canopy. This, in conjunction with planting only high-quality varietals and his sustainable production methods and extreme attention to detail in both cultivation and post-harvest processing, results in coffee that paints a clear picture of the full potential of Salvadoran coffee.
These are coffees that are untainted by the drive to produce higher volumes. They instead receive Roberto’s full and unwavering attention and are the product of his single-minded goal of producing low volumes of the very best coffees possible. Quality over quantity.Roberto’s work is paying off. He won first place in the 2020 El Salvador Cup of Excellence and had 2 coffees place in the top 10 in 2023. The vast majority of Roberto’s coffees go to Asia, Europe and the UK so we are super stoked to have picked some coffees up directly through him.
Pulling into the farm, mist shrouds the surrounding peaks while whisps of low-hanging clouds drift through the small valley that is home to the wooden farmhouse and raised coffee drying beds. A walk through the farm reveals almost perfect, dark green coffee shrubs growing under a dense canopy of shade and fruit trees. The clouds surround us as we walk through the coffee forest and slowly find our way back to the house. Just as quickly as they appeared, the clouds break and reveal azure skies and thickly forested, verdant green mountainsides as we sit for coffee on the front porch. Roberto tells us that on the farm the weather can change 30 times a day.
We recently spent the afternoon talking with Roberto about his vision for coffee and his land while walking the farm and checking out its many different lots that are primarily separated by varietal. Lot after lot revealed close to perfect coffee shrubs growing in a balanced ecosystem. Roberto's passion for his coffee and his farm is absolutely apparent in his words, the work he does on his farm and the quality of coffee in the cup.
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Varietal
SL-28 is a bourbon-type varietal that was developed through selective breeding practices by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in Kenya in the 1930’s. The varietal is very highly regarded for its excellent cup quality. Though fairly uncommon in El Salvador, it’s common for the very best coffees coming out of East Africa to be the SL-28 varietal. The varietal is very well suited for medium to high altitude and is drought resistant but is susceptible to the major coffee diseases.
Processing
This coffee is a natural process. The coffee is first selectively harvested at the peak of ripeness. After harvesting, Roberto and his team dry the coffee cherries on raised beds. Roberto only exposes the coffee to the sun during the hours of less solar intensity and covers the coffee during hours of peak sunlight and at night. This results in slow and even drying which preserves the natural flavors in the coffee. Drying times are typically 32-36 days, during which the coffee is frequently raked by hand to ensure even drying.
Terroir
Santa Ana, El Salvador is home to many world-renowned coffee producers. Many of which, like Roberto, have farms located on the slopes of the Santa Ana volcano. The volcanic soils are extremely fertile. The region has cool, to cold nights, depending on altitude and warm to hot days. This extreme diurnal shift helps create coffees with great sweetness and complexity. The region gets well-defined rainy and dry seasons which allows for more consistent ripening and harvesting times when compared to other coffee production areas. Roberto's farm is situated at the upper limit of altitude for coffee production in El Salvador. Nights are downright cold (at least by Salvadoran standards) and the days are warm to hot with many periods of clouds and mist even during the dry season. These conditions result in coffee that ripens much more slowly than most Salvadoran coffee. Roberto's are some of the last coffees to be harvested and ready for export from El Salvador every year. This slow ripening results in heightened complexity and sweetness in the cup.