El Salvador Himalaya Estate Semi-Washed Red Bourbon: Classification, Pricing, Green Beans, and Roasting Degree

About Project Origin

Sasa Sestic, the 2015 World Barista Champion, launched a green coffee sourcing project called Project Origin three years ago together with his business team at ONA Coffee. The project works directly with coffee farmers in impoverished countries and regions, improving their production conditions and paying them prices 20% above fair-trade rates.

The project also set out to strengthen the connection between roasters and coffee farmers and to guide growers toward producing higher-quality beans. To date, Sasa has built relationships with coffee growers in eight countries, including Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

The Bourbon Variety

Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Reunion Island, known as Ile Bourbon before 1789. Simply put, Bourbon is a variety belonging to a branch of the Arabica species. It typically bears red fruit — hence Red Bourbon — though Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon also exist, with Yellow Bourbon yielding less but scoring higher on quality.

How to Brew It

For a hand-poured El Salvador: use 15g of coffee at a medium grind (setting 4 on the Fuji ghost-tooth burr grinder) in a V60 dripper with water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and let the bed bloom for 27 seconds. Pour up to 105g, then stop. Once the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly until you reach 225g, skipping the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

Processing Method

Processing: Semi-washed

Finca Himalaya Estate

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

Beans from this estate are washed at the El Divisadero processing plant in Ataco under the name of Mauricio Salaverria, then dried evenly on African raised beds using sunlight and ventilation. Mauricio inherited the business from his parents and grandparents and has worked in coffee since childhood, with a particular focus on specialty coffee cultivation.

Flavor Description

Flavor: red wine acidity, plum, brown sugar, full-bodied texture, long aftertaste

El Salvador Finca Himalaya - Product Information

• Country: El Salvador
• Estate: Finca Himalaya
• Region: Santa Ana
• Altitude: 1580-1720 meters
• Variety: Red Bourbon, Typica
• Processing Plant: El Divisadero
• Flavor: plum, brown sugar, red wine acidity
• Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
• Ingredients: In-house roasted
• Shelf Life: 30 days
• Net Weight: 227g
• Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
• Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans
• Origin: El Salvador
• Coffee Type: Other

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this Red Bourbon from Finca Himalaya sparks your interest in the variety, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is an approachable next step. Cerrado is one of Brazil's most respected growing regions, and this classic single origin at a medium roast shows cream and peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut aromas — round and smooth, not sour, with only a light bitter edge.

Prefer the brighter, sweeter side of Bourbon? The Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, a rare mutation of Red Bourbon grown in fertile red volcanic soil, delivers a clean sugarcane sweetness plus fruit and chocolate notes. It shines through pour-over, moka pot, or a home espresso machine, and works equally well as a single origin or a blend component.