DISCARNATE AILS, El Salvador

The story of Plan del Hoyo begins long before its first harvest.
Francisco R. R. de Sola, a lifelong member of the Sola Group, spent nearly half a century building ventures across El Salvador before turning to the soil. In 2015, on the threshold of retirement, he planted his first coffee trees on the volcanic slopes of Plan del Hoyo, guided by the El Salvador Agricultural Department and driven by an unspoken inheritance.

The land itself carries decades of weight. Purchased by his father, Francisco de Sola Maduro, in 1957, it was once home to angus cattle, fruit, and flocks of wild birds. When civil war fractured the country in 1980, Francisco R. R. and his sister Susana were forced to abandon the farm. Years later, following the peace accords, they returned to rebuild, first with timber, and later, with coffee.

In 2005, the Lamatepec Volcano erupted, reshaping the terrain and forcing a new path of resilience. It was this eruption that ultimately led Francisco R. R. to diversify his crops and pursue coffee cultivation, a decision that would define the farm’s legacy. Since 2015, Plan del Hoyo has gained quiet recognition among roasters for its refinement and character, with recent honours in the 2023 COE standing as testament to its worth.

Francisco R. R. believes that quality and yield are two separate disciplines, each demanding devotion. His pursuit of both remains unrelenting. Today, Plan del Hoyo stands as a sanctuary of renewal, lush, elevated, and distant from the city’s noise. Those invited to its slopes witness not only the beauty of its trees but the endurance of a family’s return to its origin.

Among its cultivars, the Geisha varietal commands reverence. Originating from the wild forests of Ethiopia and carried through Panama’s highlands into Central America, it is a variety defined by scarcity and grace. At Plan del Hoyo, it is grown in limited plots where the soil still carries the memory of volcanic fire. Its harvests are measured and deliberate, its cup known for ethereal florals and crystalline sweetness. Roasters and brewers seek it not for its name alone, but for the rare convergence of altitude, heritage, and care that shape its profile. Each lot is both a pursuit and a reward, a reflection of the land’s endurance and the patience required to reveal it.