El Optimismo - El Salvador 2011 Verified listing

Overview

The El Optimismo coffee plantation is located in the Sierra Tecapa-Chinameca in the Canton San Juan in the City of Alegria which is situated in the Province of Usulutan in the Eastern part of the country. It is situated at an altitude of 1,550 metres above sea-level with an area of 67.2 acres. From different locations across the plantation, the Alegria lagoon, the river Lempa and the Bay of Jiquilisco can be seen. El Optimismo belongs to the Zepeda Family which originate from Santiago de Maria, and who during the 1970s cultivated the Bourbón and Pacas coffees nearly in their entirety. The plantation has protected areas and tree felling within the plantation is prohibited. There is also a great variety of trees and secondary vegetation such as pines, oaks, and other local vegetation such as conacastadas, pepetos, and guayabos. Within the fauna you can also find different types of deer, owls, toucans, doves, pigeons, chickens, woodpeckers, and local torogosez. Due to the armed conflict during the 1980s it was not possible to put the full amount of effort into cultivating the plantation. Consequently 28.56 acres of land were left uncultivated and turned fallow, leaving 38.64 acres in a good and fertilised condition which are currently being cultivated. Furthermore, since seven years ago with the technical help of the UNEX company, it has been possible to implement an annual work plan which has been able to be constantly supervised on the plantation. This has allowed the different stages of coffee growing to be realised at the most opportune moment. The plantation workers are people who live in the local area and who have been specially trained with the different quality standards required for every stage of coffee growing and harvesting. The Zepeda Family is extremely grateful with the plantation workers for their extremely valuable help and collaboration in this regard. For many of the plantation workers their sole source of income is from coffee growing activities on the plantation, and this income is substantially increased during times of coffee harvesting. Finally, it should be noted that the El Optimismo coffee plantation has participated four times in the international Cup of Excellence competition and El Optimismo has been awarded different prizes on all four occasions in different categories.