About La Cruz Coffee
In 2024 British national Harry Leath bought an abandoned coffee farm near Berlin, El Salvador, an area severely impacted by the civil war and the subsequent gang violence.
A region once famous for high quality coffee production, Berlin fell away with much of the other coffee regions in the east of the country. Since then, much of the coffee land has been reclaimed by nature and many skilled jobs were lost, badly impacting the economy.
Starting in a tent with no infrastructure, electricity, or even water, Harry, with support from farm resident Elias, rebuilt the farm brick by brick.
After an impressive cup score of 82 in year one, followed by an improved 83 from the second harvest, the efforts of Harry and his team attracted the attention of other farm owners who now employ La Cruz to manage their operations.
Going from one man and a tent to a company with 45 workers, La Cruz is the fastest growing coffee company in El Salvador. Having secured a deal with large UK coffee roaster Root and Branch, La Cruz is in the process of transforming more land in the Berlin region into intercropped coffee farms.
The team is planting not just coffee plants but also fruit trees, vegetables, and iconic national trees like Balsam and Cortez Blanco.
La Cruz is now the region's largest producer of organic fertilizer, supplying our farms and others who share similar values. We are constantly innovating with different methods, using various local fruits in foliar production, and trialing drone application using the services of Ave Drones.
This regenerative farming initiative will support the local farms as they move away from conventional farming methods which have ravaged soil health in recent history.
