MAV COFFEE is the commercial company formed by the fourth and fifth generation of a family of coffee growers that dates back to the 1890s. Under this brand we manage our three single-origin private farms: San Antonio Juayúa, Valle de Oro, and La Pacaya.
We have carried out the agricultural management of our farms in conjunction with Lean Coffee Management; who for more than a decade have transformed and renovated the plantation; managing to obtain a sustainable and quantity annual production, in balance with the environment.
About Us
ON A
MISSION
Lessons from our family history
First Generation
Our first generation was all in coffee growing, owning a few farms around the Sonsonate region and producing exceptional quality coffee that was exported primarily to Europe and notable buyers included the British and Dutch royal households.
Second Generation
Our second generation (Luis Alfaro) inherited the San Antonio Farm, but setting his own path decided to make banking his primary occupation. Luis was a successful banker and was the first president of El Salvador's central bank, standardizing the country's currency and putting an end to farm tokens used by farms when a standard coin wasn't available. We're particularly proud of this because even though the token system was a necessary workaround back then, it was a system abused by some farm owners where tokens could only be traded at family or friend owned businesses. Setting up the colón as national currency brought a lot of benefits to the country and one of them was financial independence for coffee farm workers.
Luis was a man of science, dabbling in chemistry and agricultural engineering as a hobby. This was the beginning of this newly formed family tradition of incorporating technology and science to coffee growing. Some of his contributions included a chemistry lab to study soil samples and a sophisticated irrigation system throughout the farm.
Third Generation
Elena de Villavicencio inherited San Antonio and along with her husband kept the farm producing delicious Bourbon and Pacas coffee. From her we learned the importance of keeping some tradition alive and preserving our heritage. Juayua was growing at an alarming rate, and coffee prices weren't great during her lifetime, many farms around the town were sold off or developed for housing. Elena fought agains this and kept the farm productive through difficult times. The town grew around the farm and is now essentially the town's lungs.
Coffee was (still is in a lot of ways) a male focused industry at the time, however she carried on despite lacking formal business or agricultural education, relying on her husband for business advice and workers to run the farm the way it always had. On the long-run, following these traditions wasn't ideal, when rust hit in the early to mid 2,000's the Pacas and Bourbons that had been grown traditionally weren't strong enough to produce enough to keep it a sustainable business, changes had to be made.
Fourth Generation
Miguel Ángel (MAV) and his siblings inherited San Antonio. MAV with little to no coffee experience decided to take over and keep the farm operational despite market prices being low, global warming changing how coffee responded and a rust epidemic that was decimating coffee farms around the country. He decided to take a different approach, one that had worked for him in other parts of his life, which was surrounding himself with experts that brought much needed experience and technical knowhow. He began collaborating with Lean Coffee Management, a coffee consultancy company with similar goals and values to his. This was a match made in heaven, as Lean Coffee wanted to bring coffee to the 21st century with modern techniques and MAV wanted to keep coffee alive as a sustainable, fair and ecologically responsible way of life. The partnership lead to MAV replanting the farm with Sarchimor varietals capable of withstanding rust and climate change a process that is ongoing.
As MAV got deeper into the coffee industry and started experiencing what coffee could be he decided to get into exotic varietals like Geisha, and that's were the idea of La Pacaya started to form.Luis was a man of science, dabbling in chemistry and agricultural engineering as a hobby. This was the beginning of this newly formed family tradition of incorporating technology and science to coffee growing. Some of his contributions included a chemistry lab to study soil samples and a sophisticated irrigation system throughout the farm.
Fifth Generation
Irene (IMV) and Miguel Jr (MAVA) are the fifth generation, working closely with MAV to make up the MAVCOFFEE team.
Miguel owns and runs Valle de Oro and helps on day to day operations. Irene lives and works in Europe, overseeing the business operations of international markets. She is known to be the point of contact and is also the backbone behind our social media platforms.
Together as MAVCOFFEE, fourth and Fifth generations are working towards becoming a self sufficient operation including growing, processing and exporting our coffee. The next step is where you can help us create and we're excited to bring you along!
Mission & vision
Prove coffee can be a sustainable, ecological, ethical mean of life in El Salvador to preserve it as cultural heritage.
Mission
Become a reference point for Salvadoran specialty coffee and a role model for anyone who inherits or wants to get into coffee growing.