How Did El Salvador Himalaya Coffee Come About? How Are El Salvador Coffee Bean Grades Classified?

El Salvador Finca Himalaya

Coffee Details

Country: El Salvador

Estate: Finca Himalaya

Region: Santa Ana

Altitude: 1,580 - 1,720 meters

Varieties: Red Bourbon, Typica

Processing Station: El Divisadero

Flavor Notes: Plum, brown sugar, red wine acidity

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 30 days

Net Weight: 227g

Package Type: Bulk coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Origin: El Salvador

Coffee Type: Other

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 at ONA Coffee. The project works directly with coffee farming families in impoverished countries and regions, improving their production conditions and paying them 20% above fair trade prices.

The original intention behind the project also included strengthening the connection between roasters and coffee farmers while guiding farmers toward higher-quality coffee. To date, Sasa has built relationships with growers in eight countries, among them Brazil, Panama, India, Ethiopia, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Coffee Varieties

Bourbon coffee was first cultivated on Réunion Island, known before 1789 as Île Bourbon. Bourbon is a variety within the Arabica species. It typically produces red cherries, known as Red Bourbon; Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon also exist, and Yellow Bourbon yields relatively less but is of superior quality.

Typica is one of the oldest Arabica varieties. Also known as the old-variety small bean, it yields little and is difficult to cultivate, which makes it much more expensive than ordinary small beans. Typica originates from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere.

Processing Method

Processing Method: Honey Process

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

The cherries are processed at the El Divisadero station in Ataco, owned by Mauricio Salaverria, and then dried evenly on African raised beds using sunlight and ventilation. Mauricio inherited the business from his parents and grandparents, growing up surrounded by coffee, with a particular focus on specialty cultivation.

Brewing Instructions

Hand-pour El Salvador: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder setting #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level drops to half, then slowly continue pouring until reaching 225g. Discard the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Flavor Profile

Flavor Description: Red wine acidity, plum, brown sugar, full-bodied mouthfeel, long-lasting aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the balanced, medium-roast style that El Salvador and Brazil both do so well, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian single origins are the natural next step. FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic Brazilian single origin from Cerrado, a region known for high-quality coffee. Roasted medium, it shows dense aromas of creamy peanut, toast, caramel and hazelnut, with a rounded body, low acidity and a light bitter note. It works as pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon or French press.

FrontStreet Brazil Queen's Farm comes from Mogiana, near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil lets the cherries take up abundant nutrients and develop a full aroma. Part of the area still farms traditionally while part has adopted modern, standardized management, which has raised local quality considerably. Queen's Farm is a rare Yellow Bourbon, a natural mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character, and it brings a sugarcane sweetness found in few other regions along with fruit and chocolate notes—whether brewed as pour-over, moka pot or on a home espresso machine.

Brazil's low acidity, balance and friendly price also make it the backbone of many espresso blends. FrontStreet Classic Blend, with its rich crema; FrontStreet Specialty Blend, with its deep nutty character; FrontStreet Black Cacao Blend, the crowd-pleasing all-rounder; and FrontStreet Commercial Blend, built for cafe use, all contain Brazilian beans. The Brazilian component supplies chocolate and cream aromas plus a gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance, and that even temperament makes extraction more stable and more forgiving.