El Salvador Santa Rita Hacienda Santa Yellow Bourbon Washed Premium Coffee Beans Flavor Profile and Aroma Characteristics

The flavor profile features wheatgrass, roasted nuts, maltose, a smooth milky creaminess, rounded acidity, and the sweetness of brown sugar and hazelnut chocolate.

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop
Address: No. 10 Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou (FrontStreet Coffee)
Contact: 020-38364473
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Package: Bulk Coffee Beans
Roast Level: Medium Roast

El Salvador Santa Rita Yellow Bourbon Washed SHG EP

Country: El Salvador

Estate: Santa Rita Estate

Region: Santa Rita

Grade: SHG

Processing: Washed

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Flavor Notes: wheatgrass, roasted nuts, maltose

About El Salvador Coffee

El Salvador is one of the smaller countries in Central America. Its coffee is light-bodied, aromatic, pure, and slightly acidic, with exceptionally good balance as its signature trait — a true Central American specialty, showing acidity, bitterness, and sweetness in equal measure.

El Salvador ranks alongside Mexico and Guatemala among the region's major producers, vying for the top one or two positions in Central America. Highland coffee consists of uniform, large beans with a rich, mild flavor. Like Guatemala and Costa Rica, El Salvador grades by altitude — the higher the altitude, the better the coffee. Three elevation grades apply: SHB (Strictly High Grown) = highland, HEC (High Grown Central) = mid-highland, and CS (Central Standard) = lowland. The country's best-known brand is Pipil, the Aztec-Mayan word for coffee, which has earned certification from the Organic Certified Institute of America.

Yellow Bourbon Variety

Yellow Bourbon is a variety whose fruit ripens yellow. It was first discovered in Brazil, where it is still grown primarily today. It is generally believed to have arisen from a mutation stemming from hybridization between the red-fruited Bourbon and a yellow-fruited Typica variant called "Amarelo de Botocatu." Yellow Bourbon is one of the finest quality varieties. While regular Bourbon changes from green to yellow to red, Yellow Bourbon stays yellow. When grown at high altitude and processed with natural sun-drying, it exhibits exceptional flavor.

Awards and Recognition

In February 2012, it received a 94-point rating from Coffee Review.

Santa Rita Estate

Santa Rita Estate is located north of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range at approximately 5,000 feet. Santa Ana Volcano (Volcán Santa Ana) rises in southwestern El Salvador, in Santa Ana Department, and is the country's highest peak (2,362 meters [7,749 feet] to 2,381 meters). Santa Rita is also a model estate for coffee production in El Salvador.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washed processing is the traditional water-based way of handling coffee cherries: float sorting, pulping, fermentation and soaking to remove the mucilage, washing, drying, and hulling. The long time in water triggers chemical changes inside the bean that consume much of its simple sugars (fructose and glucose) while increasing various organic acids. Washed coffee therefore tends to retain more of the bean's own aromatics while showing bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh cup. If you enjoy the washed character of this Santa Rita, FrontStreet's washed lineup offers several other excellent expressions of the same craft.

Most people know Yirgacheffe, but fewer know that local farmers, whose individual harvests are tiny, send their cherries to cooperatives for unified processing — FrontStreet's Guodingding Cooperative is one such team from Guodingding village, with polished processing experience whose coffee was discovered and celebrated for its exceptional refinement and cleanliness. Washed processing lets the Guodingding lot show jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity at their fullest, and after a medium-light roast it also reveals green tea and honey tones — lovely as a pour-over, cold brew, or even espresso. In Kenya, a master of the double-washed (fermentation-soak-fermentation-soak) method, FrontStreet's "Cherry Tomato" Kenya pushes juiciness to the extreme through repeated washing and soaking, delivering aromas of cherry tomato, dried plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar — sweet, tart, and juicy, a favorite among coffee enthusiasts.

For a classic washed profile, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 has history on its side: Jamaica's island climate brings shorter sunshine hours than most origins, so washed processing was born there out of necessity — removing skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying reduces the moisture surrounding the bean, shortens drying time, and yields translucent, low-defect beans. The method guarantees Blue Mountain's rich aroma: hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel in a perfectly balanced cup where no single note dominates or falls short.