From origin
Cup of Excellence, markets, farms and the pulse of Salvadoran coffee. Open a story and taste the country.
In the 2025 naturals category, Finca La Pacaya, of Miguel Ángel Villavicencio, won with a Geisha of 90.30 points. Apaneca-Ilamatepec again showed why it is the country’s most cited region.
In the 23rd Cup of Excellence, the Pacamara honey from Finca Santa Rosa, of Raúl Rivera, won the washed/honey category with 90.93. Five farms reached Presidential Coffee.
The USDA projected 597,000 bags for 2025/26 and noted that more than 230 farms and 34 mills already hold Rainforest Alliance certification. Quality and canopy are not separate paths.
On 8 May 2025, datelined Varginha, the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association and the SCA announced a memorandum making the Coffee Value Assessment the official protocol for Brazilian specialty coffee. Brazil is the second country to take that step.
At the Houston Expo, the SCA and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation agreed to roll out the Coffee Value Assessment. The 2004 cupping form gives way to a protocol that returns preference data to the producer — useful too for a boutique origin such as El Salvador.
The NCA’s Spring 2025 NCDT puts espresso-based drinks at 28% of adults yesterday, up from 24% in 2020 (+17%). In the past week, 43% of adults had one. The bar circuit asks for origin with body and sweetness; El Salvador already shows it at home.
The NCA’s Spring 2025 NCDT puts non-espresso drinks — cold brew, nitro, frozen — at 17% of adults yesterday, up from 12% in 2020: a rise of about 42%. The cold circuit asks for floral, sweet origin; Salvadoran coffee fits if it travels with farm and process.
In spring 2025 the NCA found that 66% of U.S. adults drank coffee the day before — more than bottled water — at an average of three cups. Specialty (46%) beat traditional (42%) in January. The daily ritual is the natural slot for highland Salvadoran arabica.
The ITC Ilamatepec project supports about 60 businesses in Apaneca, including Cooperativa Los Ausoles and its COAUSOLES mill. The coffee route connects farm visits, orange tourism and the Café Apaneca Ilamatepec denomination of origin.
The National Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology researches, analyzes soils and transfers pruning, nutrition and varieties to small coffee growers. Without that everyday science, cup quality does not hold.
A 2024 legislative decree set 23 March as National Pacamara Coffee Day. In 2025, the Foreign Ministry and the ISC marked it at the National Palace and across the diplomatic network: the variety born of Pacas × Maragogipe as cup ambassador.
Droughts in Brazil and Vietnam tightened world supply; in El Salvador the USDA projects 542,000 bags in 2026/27 because of El Niño. The coffee belt (about 25° N–25° S) is warming; Salvadoran volcanic altitude operates as a relative refuge, not as immunity.
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