4 - Las Duanas - El Salvador 2026 (Experimental)

Finca Las Duanas represents three generations of passion, resilience, and harmony with nature in the high mountains of Chalatenango. Managed by Xavier Enrique Mena, along with his wife and close friend and conservationist, Andrés Martínez, the farm honors the legacy of his father, Enrique Mena, and his grandfather, who first worked these lands. Located in a remote, mist-shrouded canton at an impressive 1,910 meters above sea level, the farm operates under a cool, cloudy microclimate (average 21.4°C) and loamy soils that slow the fruit's ripening, concentrating intense sugars and complex flavors in the bean. For the Mena family, coffee is the ultimate bond: from sharing meals in the fields to meticulously selecting the cherries in the processing area. This deep dedication led them to win the 2025 Cup of Excellence in the Experimental Category, inspiring an entire community to embrace specialty coffee as a means of livelihood and environmental protection. Finca Las Duanas is a biodiversity sanctuary, nestled under a 30% native mountain canopy of Guachipilín, pine, and bay laurel trees. The farm actively protects its water sources, prohibits chemical pesticides, practices mechanical pruning, uses living barriers of Izote trees to combat erosion, and fosters a culture of litter collection among its neighbors. Here, coffee coexists with endangered white-tailed deer, peccaries, agoutis, pacas, and ocelots, growing under agricultural practices that demonstrate world-class innovation and ecological preservation go hand in hand.