Introduction to Los Pirineos Farm in El Salvador - What Coffee Varieties are Grown in El Salvador?

The Cup of Excellence

The Cup of Excellence is the most prestigious competition and award for high-quality coffee. The level of scrutiny that Cup of Excellence coffees undergo is unparalleled in the specialty coffee industry. Each year thousands of coffees are submitted for consideration, with award-winning coffees sold at favourable prices in global online auctions, and the majority of auction proceeds going directly to farmers.

The competition is extremely rigorous, involving a three-week evaluation by industry experts, beginning with a national jury of approximately a dozen qualified jurors from the country of origin, followed by an international jury panel of about 20-25 experienced jurors from around the world.

A competition with 300 entries involves an average of 9,000 analytical cups, with each "Top Ten" coffee cupped at least 120 times.

The Cup of Excellence competition has pioneered integrity and transparency in the coffee industry, ensuring the value of winning coffees. Each sample entering the competition is assigned a number known only to the reviewers, and each jury member cups the coffee blindly. Furthermore, each batch is recorded throughout the process, so award-winning coffees can be traced back to the farm and the precise micro-lot.

Los Pirineos

The farm is located in eastern El Salvador, in the town of Berlin, Usulután, with 80 hectares dedicated to coffee cultivation at elevations ranging from 1,350 to 1,550 meters above sea level.

The farm owner is Gilberto Baraona, a fourth-generation coffee farmer whose family has held the land since 1889.

Los Pirineos has won the CoE championship multiple times, and coffees from this farm have been used by baristas worldwide in national and world competitions. World Coffee Barista Champions Tim Wendelboe and Sasa Sestic are both buyers of the farm's coffee. The specialty coffee potential of the farm was initially discovered by Taroh Suzuki, owner of Saza Coffee in Japan.

This is an experimental farm with a coffee germplasm bank of approximately 70 varieties. More than 16 coffee varieties are currently under cultivation, and in 2001 the farm was selected as the cradle for the development of the F1 Centro America coffee variety, becoming the first coffee farm in El Salvador certified for seed production by WCR.

The main varieties currently produced include Bourbon Elite, Pacamara, and Pacas. The farm processes coffee using both natural and mechanical fermentation methods for washed processing, as well as honey and natural processes.

This coffee micro-lot is a red Pacamara, processed using the red honey method and dried on African raised beds in full sun for 12 days.

The farm provides permanent employment for more than 70 people, and all proceeds from COE are reinvested in the farm and its workers.

Flavor notes: Floral, wine-like, spices, fruits, berries, peaches, blackberries.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends brewing with water at 90-92°C for bright acidity and rich, layered complexity.

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

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Los Pirineos is a benchmark estate for anyone exploring El Salvador's artisan varieties, and if you are just starting out, FrontStreet Coffee's entry-level single origins are an easy way in. From Ethiopia, FrontStreet's sun-dried Flower Queen is roasted from the high-grown Hambella lots of Guji and leads with berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey notes, while the washed Gedingding Cooperative shows the classic jasmine, lemon acidity, and berry tones of Yirgacheffe.

From Indonesia, FrontStreet's Lindong Mandheling and PWN Golden Mandheling are both wet-hulled, a method invented for the local climate and low budgets, in which the parchment is machine-removed while the bean is still half-dry to speed drying — the step that created Mandheling's famously deep, smooth character, with herbal and spice notes and almost no acidity. The PWN Golden Mandheling goes a step further with three rounds of hand sorting and one machine sort, cutting the defect rate to a minimum for a cleaner, smoother cup with clearer woody and caramel notes.

If you would rather start with something sweet and honeyed, FrontStreet's Costa Rica range is hard to beat. FrontStreet's Blackberry uses a black honey process and FrontStreet's Mozart a raisin honey process; both bring out raisin and blueberry sweetness with osmanthus and rose aromas, and they shine whether brewed as pour-over, cold brew, americano, or latte. For a gentle, balanced daily cup, FrontStreet's Yunnan Small Bean from Baoshan is washed and delivers the classic nut and chocolate profile with a soft, even body, while FrontStreet's 2013 Yunnan Typica — an old Arabica variety grown at 1,300 meters and roasted medium — is cleaner still, with hazelnut, dried apricot, black tea, caramel, and ripe plum.