El Salvador Bosque Lya

El Salvador Finca Bosque Lya is situated in the municipality of Santa Ana on the foothills of the Ilamatepec Volcano (or Santa Ana Volcano as it now more commonly known) in the Apaneca Mountain range of western El Salvador. The farm itself was established in 1932 when Gustavo Vides Valdes named his property in honour of his daughter. The farm name Bosque Lya translates to Lya’s forest.

In Central America El Salvador has the nickname, ‘Pulgarcito’, which means little thumb and is of course a reference to the tiny size of this important coffee producing nation. But if the best things come in small parcels then El Salvador is no exception as packed into this little country there are some of the best farms in the whole of Latin America. Many that are capable of scoring very highly on the cupping table. More than half of the nation’s coffee is Bourbon so there is plenty of sweetness, complexity and high acid coffee being produced. Around 90% of the country’s coffee is shade grown, which maintains the rich biodiversity that thrives in rural El Salvador.

This is a land of volcanoes, many of them active, so the soil is rich and fertile whilst the views are often strikingly beautiful and always dramatic. Volcan Santa Ana is the largest but Izalco, with its typical conical shape, is a national icon. Such conditions are perfect for the production of high quality coffee.