About Finca Villa Maria

When she smells the sharp aroma of a cup of coffee, Alcira smiles. She knows that in this cup there is more than just great quality, there are also over 200 years of family history and passion for growing coffee.

Alcira remembers the first time her grandmother took her to the farm. She remembers riding in the back of the pick-up truck and holding on with her brother as they traveled through the rich mountain range of Ilamatepec towards Ataco. The coffee plants were beautifully loaded with vibrant red fruits. Her grandma cut one of the cherries and gave it to Alcira to taste. It was sweet, yet strong, just like the matriarchs that had run Finca Villa Maria for five generations.

In the 1800s, Alcira’s great great grandparents, Simona and Felipe, along with their daughter, Maria Antonia, bought the beautiful Villa Maria Farm overlooking the Ilamatepec mountain range. Maria Antonia inherited a successful farm and continued managing it with a strong, hard-working character and a deep passion for coffee. With this same dedication, her daughter Aracely, Alcira’s grandmother, managed the farm for 50 years, until the day she passed.

Alcira finally took on the farm in 2016. In four years of work, she has had the opportunity to reforest the land with 10,000 coffee plants and to innovate the farm’s drying practices by working with honey as well as natural and African beds. Recently, Alcira created a nursery on the farm, and opened up a coffee shop in Ataco called ‘Villa Maria, Cafe con Altura.’ In the face of these changes, the Villa Maria farm still holds as a core pillar of their coffee-growing philosophy that “the special thing about our coffee is the taste it has, given the hands that care for it.” Everyone who works at the farm is a member of the special Villa Maria family.

Alcira has significantly refined her processes and continues to look forward with a mentality of constant improvement, so she is ready to continue moving through the challenges of commercializing her coffee. Given that she continues working with the same love and commitment, she can reach her goal of having her coffee’s quality be recognized beyond El Salvador. Alcira hopes to represent her coffee in international auctions and fairs. Her foremost goal is to pass on a healthy and prosperous farm to her daughters so that they can feel connected with the many generations of women who have worked diligently for their own success.

Today, Alcira takes her daughters to Villa Maria so they can understand what goes into delivering a good batch, from seed, to cut, to process. She takes them by the hand as they walk down the paths towards the coffee plants. She cuts two cherries and gives the delicious fruit to her daughters to taste, preparing the sixth generation of sweet, strong women who will lead Finca Villa Maria.