History of Coffee in El Salvador
Coffee is a grain of transcendental importance in El Salvador and the whole world, It is the favorite drink of many and many Salvadorans, It is a fruit of delight by the variety of ways that can be prepared.
It is a drink we consume have taught since childhood, the green grain of our grandparents.
It is said that coffee was discovered by its energy properties in Ethiopia, precisely because of a herd of sheep that consumed the small red grains of some shrubs and later it was more than remarkable a type of hyperactivity, what caught the attention of some people, putting attention to the effects of those "fences" that caused such an effect. From there arose a whole process that led to the discovery of one of the most common and popular drinks around the world..
In El Salvador, coffee was introduced in the middle eighteenth century, precisely by Captain General Gerardo Barrios, while he is serving as President of the Republic. He brought the plant from the distant lands of the east of the planet, to later plant it in our country..
Gerardo Barrios introduced coffee in the east of the country, in the municipality of Ciudad Barrios (According to the book of historical memory of the town) in that time was called Capayguantique (according to the historical memory book of the municipality) and it was precisely through the Gavidia farm, property of Barrios, who in turn built a coffee threshing, which consisted of a large circle, bordered by a wall half a meter or slightly more, where the green grain was watered and ground by a yoke of oxen pulling a large stone almost round to crush it..
From this farm the planting of the plant was expanded throughout the municipality, becoming an area where coffee was obtained and then sowing it in other places. So the coffee was obtained, sown and harvested also in other municipalities now rich in production such as Santiago de María, Berlin, among others.
After the disappearance of the threshing machines little by little, benefits were emerging (coffee processing companies). Some foreigners had their "processing factories", but cooperatives also emerged for all those who owned a coffee plantation in some municipalities..
thus, la Sociedad Cooperativa de Cafetaleros de Ciudad Barrios 1972, emerged , which has gradually consolidated and become one of the strongest association companies in the country, compared only with the cooperative La Majada of western zone.
La coperativa de ciudad barrios has produced highly recognized coffee worldwide, exporting hundreds of quintals a year to Europe, under the support of the international quality seal Rain Forest Alliance, awarded only to farms that satisfactorily meet high production standards with quality and good processes. So coffee is not only part of our production, but also, of our idiosyncrasy.
