After two tough years for El Salvador’s coffee industry, with leaf rust and record low harvests, this year is looking a bit better. When we visited our producing partners the Salaverrias (Jasal) and Gilberto Baraona (Los Pirineos) in February the farms were looking great, full of cherries in the higher altitudes. Quality is great and while volume isn’t huge, it is up from last year.
As always we are getting great coffees from Jasal in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec region near Santa Ana. Over the last few years they have separated some of the bigger farm blocks into individual “tablones”, many of which have different altitudes, mixes of varieties, and weather patterns. We will have some returning coffees from years past, like Loma Linda, La Ilusion, San Juan, etc.
After good results last year we are expanding the amount of “soaked” coffees this year — these coffees are depulped, demucilaged, and then soak under fresh water overnight before being taken to the drying patios. This additional step to the washed process results in brighter, cleaner parchment and a more transparent, brighter cup. Still we are also doing the normal washed process on some coffees with excellent results, and we are doing experiments with all different types of drying, from soaked to washed to honeys and naturals under shade. Hoping to expand this in future years along with more microlots and separation from each tablon.
First shipments arrive at the end of April and we have preship samples — get in touch
We will also have coffees from Los Pirineos a bit later in the spring – we got the chance in February to cup a ton of interesting varietals from Gilberto’s garden of 60+ varieties. All are too early for production on any scale but they definitely show potential for the future. Tim wrote about his results, see here
