A Brief Introduction to the Origin, Development, History and Culture of El Salvador Himalaya Estate Semi-Dried Red Bourbon Specialty Coffee Beans

About Project Origin

Sasa Sestic, the 2015 World Barista Champion, launched a green bean sourcing project called Project Origin three years ago with his business team, ONA Coffee. The project works directly with coffee-farming families in impoverished countries and regions, improving their production conditions and offering purchase prices 20% higher than fair trade prices.

The project was also meant to strengthen the connection between roasters and coffee farmers and to guide farmers toward cultivating high-quality beans. To date, Sasa has built relationships with growers from eight countries, including Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

El Salvador Finca Himalaya

Country: El Salvador

Estate: Finca Himalaya

Region: Santa Ana

Altitude: 1580-1720 meters

Processing: Honey process

Varieties: Red Bourbon, Typica

Processing Station: El Divisadero

Flavor Notes: Plum, brown sugar, red wine acidity

Finca Himalaya sits in the renowned Santa Ana region, on the Apaneca mountain range at 1500 meters altitude. It is one of the few estates managed by Aida Batlle, and the main variety cultivated is Bourbon.

The beans from this estate undergo processing at the El Divisadero station in Ataco, owned by Mauricio Salaverria, followed by uniform drying on African raised beds with sun exposure and ventilation. Mauricio inherited the business from his parents and grandparents and has been involved with coffee since childhood, with a special focus on specialty coffee cultivation.

Flavor Description

Red wine acidity, plum, brown sugar, full body, long aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

El Salvador's red wine acidity and brown-sugar sweetness have a lot in common with the low-acid, balanced character that Brazilian coffee brings to a blend. That balance, combined with a friendly price, is exactly why Brazil is the first choice in so many espresso recipes at FrontStreet Coffee. The Classic Blend is built for a rich crema, FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend leans nutty, FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend is even and rounded, and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend is made for cafés—and all of them contain Brazilian coffee. Brazil's contribution is not only chocolate and cream aroma but also a gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance that makes extraction more stable.

If you would rather drink Brazil as a single origin, FrontStreet Coffee's Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic place to start. From the well-known Cerrado region, it is the common South American Red Bourbon variety; medium roasted, it delivers cream, peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut, with a rounded body, low acidity, and a light bitterness. It works as pour-over and also suits a moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press. For a more distinctive site and variety, FrontStreet Coffee's Queen's Estate comes from Mogiana near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil feeds the fruit; its rare Yellow Bourbon brings a sugarcane sweetness that few regions can match, along with fruit and chocolate.

If you are pulling these as espresso for milk drinks, keep the recipe steady: a 1:2 brew ratio with a roughly 30-second extraction gives enough strength and enough extraction to carry through milk, and Brazil's natural sweetness keeps the cup balanced rather than sharp.