Honey Process Coffee | El Salvador Coffee - Malacara C Farm | What Coffee Beans to Use for Pour-Over

Alongside the coffee discussed in this article, FrontStreet Coffee recommends beans well suited to pour-over: Costa Rica Black Honey and Nicaragua Black Honey.

El Salvador Coffee Overview

El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. Most regions primarily grow coffee beans, but don't overlook it because of its size. In El Salvador, 60% of coffee is Bourbon varietal, including orange, pink, and red Bourbon. Bourbon is known worldwide for its excellent cleanliness, bright and sweet mouthfeel, and strong citrus aroma. Notably, El Salvador is the birthplace of the Pacas and Pacamara coffee tree varieties. Typical Pacamara has excellent body with tropical fruit fragrance and a honey-like taste, plus citrus brightness and a sweet aftertaste in which golden grapefruit acidity transforms into sweetness, making it one of the best varieties in Central America in recent years. Many countries have also successfully cultivated excellent Pacamara beans.

Coffee Harvest and Quality

Coffee beans are harvested only once a year, between November and February of the following year. Newly harvested coffee typically reaches foreign buyers between June and August. Compared with coffee farms in other Central and South American countries, most farms in El Salvador are medium-sized. Farmers bring immense passion and professional skill to producing high-quality coffee cherries, which has led to a thriving export market and consequently maintained and improved bean quality. As Salvadorans say, you will smile after just one sip of coffee.

H.I.Q (High Quality) Coffee Program

H.I.Q (High Quality) represents high-quality coffee beans, promoted and executed by H.I.U Company, founded by Panamanian Graciano Cruz. The U stands for smile. H.I.U currently has cooperative partners in El Salvador, Panama, and Ethiopia. The company seeks micro, special, high-quality farms with unique varieties, processing methods, and climates, then educates farmers to meet H.I.Q production standards, including measuring the sugar content of green beans and maintaining friendly organic environments for the land. They also help their farms build updated processing equipment to ensure the entire process meets H.I.Q high-quality organic standards.

Malacara C Farm - Rising Star in Honey Processing

The emerging honey-processed Malacara C farm was founded in 1888. The current managers, José Guillermo Alvarez Prunera and his sister María de los Angeles Alvarez de Murray, are fourth-generation coffee growers. In the early twentieth century, MALACARA produced the best coffee in El Salvador. Today, five farms provide 20 permanent jobs, which can expand to 100 people during harvest season. The farm community has a school, a clinic, and some sports facilities available to employees free of charge. Because of excellent quality, limited production, and strict control, MALACARA was the winner of the second Cup of Excellence® Presidential Award in El Salvador. The coffee is exported to the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Farm Characteristics

Farm Name: Malacara C

Farmer: Francisco Arturo Alvarez Meza

Grade: S.H.B

Awards: Winner of the Second El Salvador Cup of Excellence Presidential Award

City: Apaneca-Ilamatepec

Region: Volcan Santa Ana, Santa Ana

Country: El Salvador

Farm Size: 47.6 Hectares

Coffee Growing Area: 45.5 Hectares

Altitude: 1,400 meters

Coffee Characteristics

Variety: Bourbon

Processing System: Honey Process

Flowering Period: June - August

Harvest Period: November to February (once a year)

Aroma/Flavor: Olive, grass, drupe, hazelnut, nuts, almond, caramel, chocolate, longan, grape, vanilla, honey

Acidity: Smooth, gentle, delicate, silky, sweet citrus, mild low acidity, high consistency

Complexity and Other Characteristics: Very sweet, persistent aftertaste, high complexity, coexistence of floral and fruit aromas, very obvious acidity transforming to sweetness

Overall Evaluation

El Salvador honey-processed Malacara Estate C Farm coffee is a rare bean with a delicate, ultra-long sweet aftertaste. Compared with Panama honey-processed coffee, which has a bright and strong aroma and taste, Malacara Estate C Farm is a coffee with a delicate yet persistent aroma and taste. Both are honey-processed coffees, but they present different characteristics in detail and aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A honey-processed coffee like this one shines in a V60, and the beans you pair with it matter. FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Huakui is one of the most popular specialty beans of recent years, with an intense tropical-fruit aroma that often brings strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, and lychee to mind, plus marked sweetness, very little bitterness, and a smooth, juicy body that wins over drinkers who usually dislike bitter coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gutingding is a good entry into specialty coffee, with jasmine floral notes, bright citrus acidity, and a green-tea-like sweetness; its acidity is gentle and fruit-like rather than sharp. For a washed, more complex cup, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato comes from the Thika region at 1,550-1,750 meters, grown from the classic SL28 and SL34 varieties with a 72-hour double washed fermentation, and shows ripe cherry tomato, dark plum, pear, and brown sugar notes with a clean, lingering finish.

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a V60 at 90-91°C, 15g of coffee, and a 1:15 ratio. Pour 30g for a 30-second bloom, then add water to about 125g; once the bed falls to about two-thirds, finish at about 225g, for a total drawdown of roughly 2:00-2:10.