El Salvador
El Bálsamo Quetzaltepec
Anny Ruth
Loma La Gloria
Red Bourbon
Red Honey
February–April
Black Cherry, Plum, Molasses
1500 meters
N/A
69 kg w/ GrainPro
SOLD OUT
Loma La Gloria can be found in the El Boquerón crater of the San Salvador Volcano in the El Bálsamo Quetzaltepec region of El Salvador. Shade trees cover much of the farm and are home to many species of birds, including Blue Jays, Chiltotas, Torditos, Guacalchias, and Hummingbirds. The shade canopy helps control temperatures on the farm, maintaining the optimal climate to produce a desirable cup profile.
Loma La Gloria is operated today by Anny Ruth and her father Roberto Pimentel. Roberto purchased the farm in the late 1990s and named it Loma La Gloria after his grandfather’s estate where he spent his childhood summers. A civil engineer and visionary businessman by nature, Roberto completed construction of a processing mill on the farm in 2001. Unfortunately, the mill was abandoned upon completion due to an ongoing coffee crisis in El Salvador at the time, and Roberto continued selling cherries from Loma La Gloria to other mills.
Anny Ruth began working with her father in 2012 after finishing her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and beginning a career in business. Prior to starting her work at Loma La Gloria she was taking as many coffee courses as she could find, including seeking out education about milling, sample roasting, and cupping. Initially, she believed that she would be opening a coffee shop to sell her father’s coffee, but she quickly recognized the value in getting the mill operating in order to control the quality and traceability of the coffee from the farm.
In 2014, El Salvador was hit by la roya coffee leaf rust, reducing Loma La Gloria’s harvest to just one-third of what it had been in previous years. In spite of the struggle, Anny processed Loma La Gloria’s coffee at the farm’s mill for the first time that season, choosing to turn the difficult circumstance into an opportunity.
Under Anny Ruth’s leadership, Loma La Gloria has improved year after year and has earned an international reputation for quality. She continues to be dedicated to controlling the process, quality, and traceability of all the beans that pass through. Today, the mill is recognized for its carefully processed Honey and Natural coffees, which are sorted by variety.
This lot of Red Bourbon coffee underwent Red Honey processing.
Cordillera El Bálsamo Quetzaltepec is one of the six coffee growing regions recognized by the Coffee Council of El Salvador (Consejo Salvadoreño de Café). Coffees grown here are known for big body and medium acidity. Cordillera El Balsamo includes the departments of La Libertad, San Salvador, and some municipalities of Sonsonate. 25% of El Salvador’s total coffee production is planted in the Cordillera El Balsamo region.
The Cordillera El Bálsamo mountain range runs through the cities of San Julián, Santa Isabel Ishuatán, Colón, Comasagua, Jayaque, Tepecoyo, Talnique, and among others). Quezaltepec is another name for the San Salvador Volcano, whose crater is known as El Boquerón and sits at 1819 masl. Quetzaltepec’s highest point is El Picacho, at 1960 masl. Many coffee farms are planted in El Boquerón’s surrounding area and a nearby national park helps preserve the region’s natural resources.
