El Salvador Coffee Bean Grading System: SHG Meaning, Coffee Stories and Characteristics

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Salvadoran coffee beans are characterized by their light body, aroma, purity, mild acidity, and excellent balance. Many coffee enthusiasts who enjoy Central and South American coffee varieties also appreciate the high-quality coffee produced in El Salvador. Friends who follow FrontStreet Coffee's official account or frequently visit our Guangzhou stores should know that FrontStreet Coffee has shared several Salvadoran coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee collects this coffee information not just for sales, but to build an information database that helps everyone gain a deeper understanding of coffee. In fact, before FrontStreet Coffee lists a coffee bean, we undergo an extensive process of origin recognition and accumulation. Many beans are not listed by FrontStreet Coffee - some coffee beans may have good quality, but their regional characteristics are not prominent, or they are too similar to beans already listed by FrontStreet Coffee, so they are not listed.

The Story of Salvadoran Coffee

In 1742, coffee was introduced to El Salvador from the Caribbean region.

In the mid-19th century, El Salvador's original export pillar, the indigo industry (a type of dye), was affected by European synthetic dyes and gradually declined. Under government leadership, coffee gradually became the main export product.

The land used to grow indigo was controlled by a small number of large estate families, while coffee cultivation required different land. These families colluded with the government, passing laws that forced poor people to move from their land, incorporating these areas into new coffee plantations. At that time, there were no so-called compensation measures, and the poor only received seasonal work opportunities.

In 1856, the first 693 bags of coffee beans were shipped to Europe. By 1930, coffee accounted for more than 90% of El Salvador's exports. Until World War II, Europe remained the most important destination for Salvadoran coffee, after which this position was replaced by the United States.

In the 1970s, El Salvador set a record by producing 350,000 bags of coffee. Despite experiencing two world wars and global economic recession periods, El Salvador still ranked among the top coffee-producing countries.

Until after the civil war in the 1980s, land reform reversed previous land policies and broke the country's original large estate system. Although the land had been redistributed among farming families, the government maintained control, with no farmer allowed to own more than 245 hectares of land. To this day, land reform policies continue to play a role, with over 90% of coffee production provided by small farmers with land areas of less than 20 hectares.

However, between 1997 and 2001, Salvadoran coffee bean prices dropped sharply. According to ICO data, Salvadoran coffee production decreased by more than 34% that year.

In addition to decades of political and price factors, in 2013, leaf rust spread in El Salvador, causing a nearly 60% drop in production during the 2014 harvest season. This was because only 3% of the coffee trees planted in El Salvador at that time were rust-resistant varieties, with most being coffee varieties with weak disease resistance such as Bourbon and Pacas.

Since 2014, although various private and government assistance programs launched in recent years have increased annual production by 7.5%, this is still far from the past production achievement of 2.4 million bags.

In 2016, the Salvadoran Ministry of Agriculture launched a new program to distribute 20 million rust-resistant plants to small farmers to further revitalize the Salvadoran coffee industry.

At the end of 2017, the Salvadoran government signed a political agreement proposing to invest $100 million over the next eight years to renovate 70,000 hectares of land with rust-resistant varieties. However, the report noted: "The main problem is that most seedlings are not certified, and there are no funds to provide necessary maintenance before the plants reach production age." At the same time, World Coffee Research established its Central American headquarters in El Salvador, where multiple research projects have been launched, and it operates a 7-hectare research farm near Santa Ana, El Salvador.

Salvadoran Coffee Growing Conditions

Geographically, El Salvador is located between Honduras and Guatemala, with the Pacific Ocean to the south. The terrain is mainly mountainous and highland. El Salvador is known as the "Land of Volcanoes," with volcanic zones rich in minerals that create high-quality fertile soil conducive to coffee tree cultivation. Salvadoran coffee farms mostly use shade cultivation, with harvest season from November to April.

Currently, El Salvador has 23,000 coffee growers, nearly 90% of whom own farms smaller than 17 hectares. Small and medium-sized farmers' cultivation areas account for 80% of the country's total production. Additionally, about 15,000 small farmers have formed 119 cooperatives that provide economic and social support to member families.

Most Salvadoran coffee cultivation is done by small farmers. Salvadoran farmer classification:

Small producers: area less than 7.0 hectares;

Medium producers: area between 7.0-70 hectares;

Large producers: area greater than 70 hectares.

Note: 1 hectare = 10,000 square meters = 15 mu

Salvadoran Coffee Grading System

Salvadoran coffee is graded by altitude, with generally higher altitudes producing better coffee:

SHG (Strictly High Grown): ≥1200m

HG (High Grown): 900-1200m

CS (Central Standard): 500-900m

Salvadoran Coffee Growing Regions

El Salvador has nine major coffee growing regions, as follows:

Apaneca

Located in western El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Excellent aroma

Apaneca Llamatepec

Located in the western mountainous region of El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Coffee with flavors of peach, cream, chocolate, and subtle citrus acidity with delicate taste

FrontStreet Coffee's Salvadoran Finca Lemus Coffee Beans

Region: Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountains

Estate: Finca Lemus Bella Vista

Altitude: 1250 meters

Varieties: Bourbon, Catuai

Processing: Black Honey Processing

Grade: SHB

Flavor: Citrus, berries, grapes, cocoa, balanced

El Balsamo-Quetzaltepec

Located in the southwestern mountainous region of El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Creamy flavor, excellent concentration, smooth taste

Cacahuatique

Located between San Miguel Province and Morazan Province

Coffee flavor: Delicate juice flavor and almond aroma

Chalatenango

Located in northern El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Soft and slightly acidic, with noticeable sweetness, nutty chocolate, and dense texture

Chichontepec

Located in central El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Chocolate sweetness and orange aroma

Metapan

Located in northern El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Floral notes, with a balance of chocolate, citrus, and special acidic caramel sweetness, with distinct fruit flavors

Santa Ana

Located in western El Salvador

Coffee flavor: Aromatic with soft acidity, excellent balance, creamy chocolate smooth flavor

FrontStreet Coffee's Salvadoran Santa Ana Chocolate Lover Coffee Beans

Region: Santa Ana

Estate: El Guayabo (Chocolate Lover Estate)

Altitude: 1450m

Variety: Bourbon

Processing: 50% Washed + 50% Honey Processing

Grade: SHB

Flavor: Cocoa, caramel, cream, soft fruit acidity, berry aftertaste

Tecapa-Chinameca

Located between San Miguel city, Lempa River, and Grande River

Coffee flavor: Rich coffee taste, with chocolate and the sweetness of mature fruits like cantaloupe, apples, and grapes

Salvadoran Coffee Varieties

The main coffee varieties grown in El Salvador are Typica, Bourbon, Pacas, and Pacamara.

Typica is the oldest native variety from Ethiopia. Typica has bronze-colored top leaves and oval or slender pointed beans, with elegant flavor but weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield. Premium coffee beans such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica variety.

Bourbon is a variant of early Typica that was transplanted to Yemen, with the bean shape changing from slender pointed to round. In 1715, France transplanted the round beans from Yemen's Mocha to the eastern coast of Africa's Bourbon Island (renamed Reunion Island after the French Revolution), and it was named Bourbon. The round Bourbon beans were辗转 passed to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727. In 1732, Britain also transplanted Yemen's Mocha to St. Helena Island (later where Napoleon was imprisoned), which were also round Bourbon beans. Bourbon is the consistent winner in American specialty coffee cupping competitions.

Pacas is a Bourbon variant discovered in El Salvador. In 1935, Salvadoran coffee farmer Pacas selected the high-yield San Ramon Bourbon variety to transplant to his farm. In 1956, friends discovered that the Bourbon yield on his farm was higher than that of same-species coffee trees, so they invited a professor from the University of Florida to identify it. It was confirmed that Bourbon had undergone genetic mutation, and the new variety was named "Pacas" after the farm's reputation. Pacas became popular in Central America due to its high yield and good quality.

Pacamara was first cultivated by Salvadoran researchers in 1958, perfectly inheriting the advantages of its parent plants (Pacas and Maragogipe). It has both the excellent taste of Pacas and the large bean size of Maragogipe. The beans are at least 70-80% the size of Maragogipe, with 100% reaching 17 mesh or above and 90% reaching 18 mesh or above. The average bean length is 1.03 cm (general beans are about 0.8-0.85 cm), average bean width is 0.71 cm (general beans are about 0.6-0.65 cm), thickness reaches 0.37 cm, with full and round bean shape. The greatest characteristic of this variety is its lively and tricky acidity, sometimes with biscuit aroma, sometimes with fruit flavor, and excellent thickness and oiliness. Pacamara from El Salvador and Guatemala has the best quality.

How to Roast Salvadoran Coffee Beans

Taking Finca Lemus estate coffee beans as an example, FrontStreet Coffee determined a light to medium roast approach to highlight the soft acidity of Salvadoran coffee while maintaining its balanced taste.

How FrontStreet Coffee Brews Salvadoran Coffee Beans

Still using Finca Lemus estate coffee beans as an example, FrontStreet Coffee uses higher water temperature and a V60 dripper with faster flow rate for brewing. The higher water temperature is to extract the soft acidity inherent in Salvadoran coffee beans, but to avoid over-extraction caused by high temperatures, we use a faster flow dripper like the V60. The V60 dripper has a 60-degree conical shape. The conical angle allows coffee grounds to be concentrated in distribution, and when pouring water, it also allows water flow to automatically converge toward the center of the dripper, ensuring sufficient contact time between water and coffee grounds, thus achieving appropriate coffee extraction. Additionally, the ribs on the inside of the V60 dripper body extend clockwise in a spiral from bottom to top, creating enough space between the filter paper and dripper, allowing good water flow mobility. Combined with the large hole at the bottom, the water flow rate is relatively faster than many drippers.

FrontStreet Coffee's specific brewing parameters are: V60 dripper, water temperature 90°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, coffee amount 15 grams, grind size (80% pass rate through China #20 standard sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, with bloom water amount being 2 times the coffee grounds, i.e., 30 grams of water for 30 seconds of bloom. After small flow circular pouring to 125 grams, segment when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225 grams and stop. The entire extraction time is 2 minutes.

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