What Does El Salvador Himalaya Taste Like? How to Brew El Salvador Coffee

Pour-over Salvadoran coffee: 15g of coffee grounds, medium grind (small Fuji ghost tooth blade #4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway before continuing to pour. Slowly pour until reaching 225g, avoiding the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Flavor profile: Wine-like acidity, plum, brown sugar, full-bodied mouthfeel, long aftertaste.

El Salvador Finca Himalaya

Country: El Salvador

Estate: Finca Himalaya

Region: Santa Ana

Altitude: 1580-1720 meters

Varieties: Red Bourbon, Typica

Processing Mill: El Divisadero

Flavors: Plum, brown sugar, wine-like 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

About Project Origin

Sasa Sestic, the 2015 World Barista Champion, started a green bean sourcing project called Project Origin three years ago with his business team at ONA Coffee. The project works directly with coffee farmers in impoverished countries and regions to improve their production conditions, and it pays them purchase prices 20% higher than fair trade prices.

The project's original motivation also includes strengthening the connection between roasters and coffee farmers and guiding farmers to cultivate high-quality coffee beans. To date, Sasa has built relationships with coffee growers from eight countries, including Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated on Réunion Island, which was known as Île Bourbon before 1789. Put simply, Bourbon is a coffee variety belonging to the Arabica species. It typically produces red cherries, called Red Bourbon. There are also Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon; Yellow Bourbon has relatively lower yields but better quality.

Typica is one of the oldest varieties among the many Arabica types. Also known as old-variety small bean coffee, it has low yields and is difficult to cultivate, which makes its price much higher than ordinary small bean coffee. Typica originates from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere.

Processing Method: Washed

Finca Himalaya is located at 1,580-1,720 meters in the renowned Santa Ana region on the Apaneca mountain range. It is one of the few estates managed by Aida Batlle, with Bourbon as the main cultivated variety.

The beans from this estate are washed at Mauricio Salaverria's El Divisadero processing plant in Ataco, then dried evenly on African raised beds with sunlight and ventilation. Mauricio inherited his parents' and grandparents' business and has been involved with coffee since childhood, focusing particularly on specialty coffee cultivation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Finca Himalaya's wine-like acidity and full body are best appreciated through a pour-over, so if you enjoy that style it is worth exploring beans built for the V60. FrontStreet Coffee's Gedeb Cooperative, a washed Yirgacheffe from the Worka area, delivers a jasmine scent over bright citrus and a silky body, while FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen leans hard into tropical fruit - strawberry, passion fruit and lychee - with very little bitterness.

For something sweeter and more floral, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy, a Geisha-style blend, brings delicate florals and juicy fruit, and FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart adds a distinct raisin character. All of them perform well in a V60, and a medium-dark single origin like FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling is a good choice if you prefer a deeper, low-acid cup.