Introduction to Santa Ana Alaska Estate - Alaska Coffee Introduction

Coffee is a craft best learned by tasting widely and comparing notes with other drinkers.

Alaska Estate: A Premier Coffee Destination

Alaska Estate sits in the mountains northwest of the Santa Ana volcano. It belongs to Ernesto, a two-time Cup of Excellence champion in El Salvador. After harvest, Alaska's cherries are carried down to the lower-altitude San Carlos processing station for post-harvest handling, and the nurseries for all four of the estates are at San Carlos as well. San Carlos is the only one of Ernesto's estates producing commercial-grade beans; its slightly lower altitude actually suits processing, since cherries from all four estates are gathered there after harvest and the hulling is outsourced.

Ernesto's Journey to Excellence

After buying Alaska Estate in 2006, Ernesto applied meticulous cultivation and processing. The following year he entered an elite batch in competition and placed eighth in the Cup of Excellence. He also serves as a national judge for El Salvador's Cup of Excellence, so he understands precisely how much depends on selecting premium cherries and managing post-harvest processing. Ernesto says: "Alaska's win mattered enormously to me. It did not just lay the foundation for later championships - the inquiries and purchasing power that came with the recognition actually let me acquire more excellent farms." He went on to buy Dream Estate and Burmas Estate, gradually building his coffee kingdom.

Commitment to Quality

With years of cupping and quality-control experience, Ernesto is attentive to detail even in how he deals with his team; the foreman running the processing plant sometimes finds his standards hard to meet. Ernesto personally supervises the entire washed fermentation and the sun-drying that follows. When he took over Alaska Estate and reached El Salvador's top 10 winning estates within a single year, that honor was hard-won.

Distinctive Flavor Profile

Alaska Estate grows mainly traditional Bourbon, including a small amount of Orange Bourbon, plus some Pacamara. Bourbon from the Santa Ana volcano area, especially at high altitude, has a fresh, bright, delicate acidity. The flavors are rich and complex - florals, citrus acidity, apple, and nutty chocolate - quite unlike the red wine-matured, acidic Bourbon of Brazil. The sweetness and green apple that emerge mid-palate create a style few other countries can replicate.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests the following parameters:

Pour-over: V60 dripper, Fuji R440 at 3.5, water around 90°C

French press: grind setting 4, water 90°C

Siphon: grind setting 4, water 90°C-91°C

AeroPress: grind setting 3.5, water 90°C

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Alaska Estate's bright, floral Bourbon style appeals to you, the closest travel companion in FrontStreet Coffee's range is the Costa Rica line. Costa Rican coffee grows at high altitude with a wide day-night temperature swing, so it is dense and full of elegant aroma, and the country is best known for honey processing - the fruit mucilage stays on the bean as it dries, which is what gives these coffees their sweetness. FrontStreet's Blackberry uses a black honey process and its Mozart a raisin honey process; expect raisin and blueberry sweetness alongside osmanthus and rose aromas.

For the same clean, perfumed character from even higher ground, try FrontStreet Coffee's Boquete washed Gesha from Panama. Panama is famous for Gesha, and Boquete is its most representative specialty region. The washed process leaves the varietal character intact, so you get the orange-blossom honey and clear aromatics typical of Gesha, at a price that makes it a far more approachable introduction than a top estate lot.

And if you like the gentle, balanced side of Central American coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Huila is worth a place on the shelf. Huila is Colombia's most famous specialty region, ringed by mountains at altitudes above 1500 meters, and the cup is softly floral with gentle fruit acidity - a natural first step before you move on to a single estate like Alaska.