
Interview: Mauricio of Finca Himalaya
MAURICIO SALAVERRIA
FINCA HIMALAYA, EL SALVADORDuring World of Coffee 2019 we were lucky to host some of the producers we work with, thanks to our export partner Belco. One of the producers was Mauricio, owner of Finca Himalaya, who is well known in the Specialty Coffee world for his passion for processing. We took this opportunity to ask him some questions about processing, challenges, and innovations...
What is your favourite processing method and why?
I would have to say natural, because it's the most challenging. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the different types of honeys. The washes is something that is easier to do, so I think I come back to the naturals because there's so many variables - the temperature, the weather, the rain, the sun, the clouds, the movement of the coffee - but it all starts with perfect picking of the cherries. What we're doing here with the Himalaya Pineapple for THE BARN is the extra picking. We do a second picking afterwards when it's on the beds, so if there are a few unripe cherries that people left behind, the second picking will make sure it's perfect. After this we start the movement. The first five days is very essential, and after that is the slow dry. You cannot hurry a natural, especially the Himalaya Pineapple. On average we dry for 23 days, it might go up 5 more days or 6 more days, but if it's super hot then we might slow them down, and put them in a volcano shape and cover them to keep them hanging without drying them more. So it depends, we have to monitor that, and the person who is in charge of that is very important, I find. They need to know the climate situation and how each coffee is progressing.

Have you always worked in coffee?
My family has always been in coffee. I'm a fifth generation coffee grower and I think I'm one that still continues with the tradition with passion. A lot of family members that had coffee (farms) have either sold them, or don't work as hard on them anymore, whereas I do all the marketing and only grow specialty and so on...What inspired you to start producing Specialty Coffee?
When the prices (between commodity and specialty) differed, especially 13/14 years ago which came about with this last wave of interest in Specialty Coffee. It was a good time for me to start working on direct trade and customer relations with roasters. The prices (for commodity coffee) were just as bad as they are today in 2019, so I decided that to keep on going I had to do something different. So I started picking better cherries, I built my own micro-mill, then I went to my first Cup of Excellence, and now I think I have 10 COE out of the 14 times I attended. This also helped me out because it's a better presentation, buyers expect a certain degree of consistency. I also met two of my oldest clients there - one from Australia one from the US. In 2020 it will be the 10th year I have worked with my partner in the US, so we have our 10 year anniversary coming up!
