El Salvador

For the month of December, Blacklist Coffee Roasters is celebrating the origin of El Salvador. El Salvador is a tiny country in Central America nestled between Honduras and Guatemala. It has a population of about 6 million people, and it only takes 2 days to drive from one side of the country to the other.

In the 1880’s, El Salvador was the 4th largest producer of coffee in the world. With its well-drained but mineral rich volcanic soils, the country has the potential to produce some stunning complex and sweet coffees. El Salvador had a reputation for quality and efficiency in its coffee production and well established relationships with importing countries. Unfortunately in 1980, El Salvador suffered a civil war which had a dramatic impact on the country and its coffee industry. It lasted 12 years and caused 75,000 deaths. Now El Salvador is working hard to regain its standing among the coffee producing countries and re-establish relationships with coffee consuming countries.

Pacamara growing in El Salvador

The common coffee varieties in El Salvador are Bourbon, Pacas and Pacamara. Pacamara is a hybrid that was created in El Salvador in 1958. It is a cross between Pacas and Maragogype. The Pacamara flavour profile is fruity and chocolaty, and the beans are quite large like the Maragogype. Recently in El Salvador the honey and natural processing methods have been popular, resulting in coffees that are sweet, complex and fruity.

Honey Processing

Currently at Blacklist Coffee Roasters, we offer you a rare opportunity to try 3 different coffees with different varieties and processing methods but from the same producer! These coffees are from Mauricio Salaverria farms in Western El Salvador, in the Apaneca region. He has won several awards for his outstanding coffees and placed in the Cup of Excellence.

Coffee: Supersonic
Farms: Finca Himalaya, Villa Galicia, Villa cypress
Varieties: Bourbon and Pacas
Process: Natural
Tasting notes: Strawberry, Cacao and plum
Interesting notes: Our Head Barista trainer Rie Moustakas was recently invited to Taiwan to give a presentation where she showcased this coffee. Her highlight was serving an espresso of the Supersonic to Hidenori Izaki the 2014 World Barista Champion.

Coffee: Villa Galicia
Farm: Villa Galicia
Varieties: Bourbon and Pacas
Process: Pulped Natural / semi washed
Tasting notes: honey, caramel, malt and nectarine

Coffee: Black Natural
Farm: Finca Himalaya
Variety: Pacamara
Process: Black honey and natural
Tasting notes: apricot, cacao and brown sugar
Interesting notes: Eisha Ryden-Hale from Blackbox Brewers used this coffee when she won the recent Brewer’s Cup Western region in October. Mauricio Salaverria was very happy to hear this news, relaying it back to his team and saying it makes all their yearly efforts worthwhile.

Our El Salvador coffee can be purchased at Sprolo in South Perth, Blackbox Brewers in Subiaco or our online shop.

Blacklist Coffee Roasters would like to thank Project Origin for these beautiful El Salvador coffees.

Resources: The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffman
Photo credit: Carlos Mendez Florez