Is El Salvador Red Bourbon Coffee Delicious? Bourbon Coffee Characteristics and Origin Story

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Salvadoran Premium Coffee Growing Regions

Salvadoran premium coffee is concentrated in the Santa Ana region in the west and the volcanic rock growing area of Chalatenango in the northwest. The top ten in cupping competitions in recent years have almost all come from these two regions. The altitude ranges from 900-1500 meters, mainly dominated by Red Bourbon (accounting for 68%), followed by Pacas (29%), while hybrid Pacamara, Durrae, and Catuai only account for 3%.

The coffee harvest season continues from November to March of the following year. All coffee cherries are harvested using manual picking methods.

Flavor Profile and Processing Methods

Overall, Salvadoran coffee inherits the mild quality of Central American coffee - it's gentle overall, slightly acidic, with pleasant sweetness. At the same time, it has its own characteristics: the aromatic flavor is slightly acidic and very gentle; it's pure without off-flavors, with excellent balance; the smooth, cream-chocolate-like texture is impressive; the dense mouthfeel gives the coffee depth of flavor and a long aftertaste.

Coffee fields stretch as far as the eye can see, mostly mechanically harvested for economic efficiency. When 75% of the coffee cherries in a coffee plantation turn red, mechanical harvesting begins, followed by the same preprocessing as the washed method - moving to water tanks to remove floating beans and screening out sinking beans, then using large pulp removers to scrape off the pulp and extract the parchment beans covered in mucilage. The next stage diverges from the washed method: the sticky parchment beans don't need to be moved to water tanks for fermentation; instead, they're moved to outdoor drying patios. Due to Brazil's dry climate, the sticky mucilage on the parchment beans hardens in about a day. Then large manpower is employed to turn them up and down for uniform drying inside and out, preventing moisture absorption and odor. About two to three days of natural sunlight and dry climate help the parchment beans reach a certain dehydration level. Then they're further dried using dryers until moisture content drops to 10.5-12%, and the parchment beans are stored in special containers for about ten days for further maturation to ensure stable quality. Before export, the parchment (hull) is removed, coffee beans are extracted, graded, and packaged.

Himalayan Estate

Himalayan Estate is located in the famous Santa Ana region of the Apaneca mountain range at an altitude of 1500 meters, and is one of the few estates managed by Aida Batlle. The main planted variety is Bourbon.

The coffee beans produced by this estate undergo washed processing at El Divisadero processing plant in Ataco under the name of Mauricio Salaverria, then are evenly dried using sunlight and ventilation on African raised beds. Mauricio inherited his parents' and grandparents' business and has been involved with coffee since childhood, especially focusing on premium coffee cultivation.

Flavor Description

Red wine acidity, plum, brown sugar, full mouthfeel, long aftertaste.

Red Bourbon Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Brazilian Red Bourbon coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value - a half-pound (227g) bag costs only about 45 yuan. Calculated at 15g per single-origin coffee, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 3 yuan. This represents extremely high value compared to coffee shops that sell each cup for tens of yuan.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473