FINCA SERBIA

In El Salvador there are a number of popular coffee-producing regions including Ahuachapan, Chalatenango, La Libertad, Santa Ana, San Salvador, and Morazan. The coffee-growing regions are typically warm and dry, apart from the Alotepec Metapán mountain range which is usually more humid with cooler temperatures. The rich volcanic soil  and high altitudes of 900 and 1,200 metres above sea level contribute to the excellent quality coffee from El Salvador.

Finca Serbia belongs to Fernando Lima and wraps around the family-owned ‘Balcanes Mill’ which processes all of the coffees for the Lima family of brothers. Coffee is then transported a short distance into Santa Ana town where it is dry-milled for export at the Cuzcachapa Co-operative where Fernando is both a producing member and acts as a guide and development manager for many other producing members looking to find routes to market.

Located in El Congo, south of Santa Ana and near Lake Coatepeque, Finca Serbia was founded in 1930. Coffee has been its primary activity since its foundation. The farm cultivates coffee under shade trees and has extended the varieties of the shade trees to cedars, oaks, and balsam in order to combat climate change. Those big and tall trees offer more protection from the more intense summer sun. In addition to renewing the shade trees, Finca Serbia also renewed several of its coffee trees more than ten years ago with leaf-rust-resistant varieties. This strategy has paid off: while Central America was hit by a wide-ranging rust pandemic in 2012, Finca Serbia was somehow spared.