El Salvador San Ernesto Natural

Now in their sixth-generation, brothers Enrique, Rene and Gustavo are running the farm with their father Gustavo still involved as an advisor, giving them the benefit of his experience. Over the years, they have placed in the finals for Cup of Excellence 7 times, as well as gaining accolades from trade bodies and national associations such as Exporter of the Year in 2015 and landing in the top 5 in 2017.

Coffee on this 140 hectare farm has recently been awarded the Denomination of Origin (DO). Certification is given by the cuppers from the Salvadoran Coffee Council under the SCA standards in order to guarantee quality and characteristics of coffee from a geographical region from the Central part of El Salvador which includes the Balsamo Quetzaltepeq Mountain Range and the San Salvador Volcano.

All the Urrutias Estate coffees are 100% shade grown and native trees are planted every year to prevent erosion. The main trees which are grown are the Izote and the Copalchi which also act as a natural wind barrier.

During 2020, the farm turned it’s hand to strawberry growing, a first for them and very novel in El Salvador where 98% of the fruits are imported. This is an important step for them diversifying crops on the farms. The additonal funding this brings in is helping to fund a further renewal of their coffee trees, with a program of 22,800 new Bourbon trees being planted from the end of 2020.