Origin, Development, History, and Culture of El Salvador Santa Rita Estate Yellow Bourbon Washed Specialty Coffee Beans

El Salvador ranks alongside Mexico and Guatemala as a major coffee-producing nation in Central America, competing with its neighbors for the region's top positions. High-altitude Salvadoran coffees produce uniformly large beans with rich, mild flavor profiles. Like Guatemala and Costa Rica, El Salvador grades its coffee by altitude — the higher the elevation, the better the coffee — across three grades: SHB (Strictly High Grown) for highland, HEC (High Grown Central) for mid-highland, and CS (Central Standard) for lowland. The finest brand is Pipil, the Aztec-Mayan name for coffee, which has earned certification from the Organic Certified Institute of America.

The flavor profile features notes of wheatgrass, roasted nuts, and maltose with a smooth, milky creaminess, well-rounded acidity, and sweet accents of brown sugar and hazelnut chocolate.

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Roast Level: Medium roast
Origin: El Salvador

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

El Salvador is one of the smaller countries in Central America, yet its coffee is light-bodied, aromatic, pure, and gently acidic, with an exceptionally balanced character that makes it a true Central American specialty — acidity, bitterness, and sweetness in equal proportion.

Yellow Bourbon, the variety that ripens to yellow fruit, was first discovered in Brazil and is still cultivated there more than anywhere else. It is believed to have originated from a hybrid mutation between red-fruited Bourbon and a yellow-fruited Typica called "Amerelo de Botocatu." Yellow Bourbon is considered one of the most exceptional varieties: while typical Bourbon cherries transition from green to yellow to red, Yellow Bourbon stays at the yellow stage. Grown at high altitude and processed well, it produces truly outstanding flavors.

February 2012: Coffee Review 94 points

Santa Rita Estate sits in the northern reaches of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range at approximately 5,000 feet elevation. Nearby, Santa Ana Volcano (Volcan Santa Ana) rises in southwestern El Salvador's Santa Ana Department — the country's highest peak at 2,381 meters (7,749 feet). The estate stands as a model coffee farm for all of El Salvador.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Santa Rita's Yellow Bourbon has you curious about the variety at its source, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon is the benchmark to try. From Mogiana's fertile red volcanic soil near southern Minas Gerais, this rare Red Bourbon mutation offers a fruit character cleaner than any other — a distinctive sugarcane sweetness alongside fruit and chocolate notes, delicious through pour-over, moka pot, or a home espresso machine.

For a more classic Brazilian daily cup, the half-washed (pulped natural) Cerrado Red Bourbon delivers medium-roast aromas of cream and peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut — round and smooth, not sour, with only a light bitter touch — and it works just as well as an espresso SOE base as it does in a French press.