Finca Noruega was the second farm acquired by Los Naranjos Coffee, in 2017. It lies in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec range, a chain of 14 young volcanoes in western El Salvador. The range is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the birthplace of the country’s first coffee Denomination of Origin, and coffee has grown here since the 19th century.
When the team arrived, the farm had old coffee trees and was in poor condition, but it had what money can’t buy: good soil, altitude and microclimate. Pacamara was one of the first varieties they planted when they began renovating the farm, together with Pacas. Today Noruega grows more than 10 varieties for very high-quality microlots and has been awarded at the Cup of Excellence on several occasions.
Noruega’s soils are rich in nutrients and hold moisture well, so regenerative farming comes naturally here. The farm keeps a small forest within its boundaries, uses cover crops, applies biological pest control and uses no chemicals for weed control. The coffee grows under Inga shade trees, mainly pepeto and cuje, among native forest. In its upper section the farm is almost a cloud forest, home to many bird species, deer, armadillos, orchids and butterflies. Cherries are picked by hand, selectively, from December to March.
At Beneficio Los Naranjos, every lot first goes through a ripeness analysis and density sorting by flotation. For this carbonic maceration, the selected cherries then spend about 120 hours in fermentation tanks, with CO₂ added roughly every three hours and the internal temperature kept around 15 °C. The aim is to extend and control fermentation to develop distinctive sensory characteristics. The coffee is then pre-dried on patios for 3 to 5 days and finished on raised beds in solar dryers for 20 to 35 days, with constant monitoring of temperature and moisture.
