El Salvador Malacara Mokka

Description

At Finca Malacara’s coffee farm, they grow mainly Red, Yellow, and Orange Bourbon coffee varieties. However, they also produce a rare beauty called Mokka.

Mokka is a mutant of the Bourbon variety that originated in Yemen centuries ago, likely named for the port of Al Mahka/Mocha in Yemen. The Mokka tree produces very small round coffee seeds/beans. The tree itself is very bushy with tiny cherries and narrow leaves, and it grows only 4-6 feet tall, whereas Bourbon which it mutated from grows 20+ feet if left unpruned. This variety tends to produce high flavor quality but is low-yielding and difficult to harvest by hand, so it is rarely produced commercially. It tends to make a heavy-bodied coffee that is very chocolaty and often with notes of dried fruit or spices. If natural processed instead, it can have a rose-like floral quality.

There are roughly 125,000 coffee trees and 10,000 native shade trees on the 50-hectare farm. The Inga trees have large leaves that provide shade as the coffee grows, allowing for a slow maturation of the coffee cherries. The farm is also diversified with crops such as avocados, prunes, raspberries, and peaches sold at local markets. Both soil and plant are analyzed and then given only what nutrients they are lacking through eco-friendly fertilizers.

Finca Malacara is located near Santa Ana, just north of Cerro Verde National Park, home to the active Santa Ana Volcano. Santa Ana is roughly an hour’s drive Northwest of San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital. Five families live on the Finca Malacara farm, which gives guaranteed employment of 20 year-round positions and around 100 more during the harvest. The coffee pickers are paid 50% above minimum wage. A school, health clinic, and soccer field are also available for use by the workers and their children.