El Salvador H.I.Q Malacara Estate LC 2 Farm | Bourbon Honey Process Coffee Beans

El Salvador: The Small but Mighty Coffee Nation

El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. Coffee beans are the main crop in most regions, but don't let its small size make you overlook it. In El Salvador, 60% of the coffee is of the Bourbon varietal, including orange, pink and red Bourbon. Bourbon is known worldwide for its excellent clarity, bright mouthfeel and sweet taste. Notably, El Salvador is the birthplace of the Pacas and Pacamara varieties. Coffee is harvested only once a year, between November and February of the following year, so new-crop coffee usually reaches foreign buyers between June and August. Compared with coffee farms in other Central and South American countries, most Salvadoran farms are medium-sized. Farmers bring unmatched passion and professional skill to producing high-quality cherries, making the coffee export market flourish and, in turn, maintaining and improving bean quality. As Salvadorans say, you'll smile with just one sip of coffee.

H.I.Q: High Quality Coffee Development Program

H.I.Q (High Quality), as the name suggests, stands for high-quality coffee beans and is a development program designed to help small farms improve. Similar in nature to Ethiopia's Red Cherry Project, H.I.Q seeks out micro, varietal, processing-specific and climate-specific high-quality farms, then educates farmers to meet H.I.Q production standards—including measuring the sugar content of the cherries and maintaining friendly, organic and environmentally sound practices. Under the program, farms build and update processing equipment to ensure the whole process meets H.I.Q standards. Only coffee scoring above 85 points in cupping can be called H.I.Q coffee. Today, H.I.Q has cooperative and guided farms in El Salvador, Panama and Ethiopia (Taiwan once invited H.I.Q personnel to guide Alishan coffee production). The coffee produced is rare and unique, highlighting how it differs from ordinary coffee and better meeting consumer demand. (The program director is the owner of Panama's Los Lajones farm.)

Malacara Estate LC 2 Farm: A Rising Star

El Salvador's H.I.Q Malacara Estate LC 2 Farm is an emerging Bourbon honey-processed coffee. The estate was founded in 1888, and José Guillermo Alvarez Prunera, who currently manages the farm, and his sister are fourth-generation coffee growers. In the early twentieth century they produced the best coffee in El Salvador. Today there are five farms providing 20 permanent jobs, which can expand to 100 people during the harvest. Within the farm community there is a school, a clinic and sports facilities for employees to use free of charge. Thanks to its excellent quality, small production and strict processes, MALACARA is a second-place Cup of Excellence Presidential Award winner and an award-winning estate in the Salvador Cupping Competition. The coffee is sold to the United States, Japan and the Netherlands.

Property Characteristics

Farm Name: Malacara LC 2

Farmer: Francisco Arturo Alvarez Meza

Grade: S.H.B

Awards: Second Salvador Cupping Competition Presidential Award Winner

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 processing, African raised beds

Flowering Period: June - August

Harvest Period: November and February (once a year)

Top Jury Descriptions: Cupping roast level is 60 seconds after first crack begins (Cinnamon)

Aroma/Flavor: Olive, grass, almond, peach, grape, vanilla, nuts, hazelnut, caramel, chocolate, honey, sugarcane

Acidity: Delicate fruit acidity, persimmon, mild low acidity, high consistency

Complexity & Other: Smooth and gentle, silky without astringency, very sweet, low complexity, floral and fruity notes coexisting, smooth acid-to-sweet transition, persistent sweet aftertaste, oolong tea aroma when cooled

Cupping Scores and Overall Evaluation

Cupping Date: 2011.10.17

Dry Aroma: 10

Wet Aroma: 9

Cleanliness: 9

Brightness: 8

Mouthfeel: 10

Balance: 9

Complexity: 9

Sweetness: 9

Acidity: 9

Aftertaste: 10

Cupping Score: 92

Overall Evaluation: H.I.Q is a program that promotes the production of high-quality coffee, and each coffee under it has its own rare and unique story. El Salvador's honey-processed Malacara Estate LC 2 Farm is a fourth-generation, century-old farm producing small quantities of Bourbon honey-processed beans. It is a fine coffee with a delicate aftertaste, exceptional sweetness and a tea-like aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the honey-processed sweetness and clean fruit of a coffee like Malacara, FrontStreet Coffee's fruit-forward Ethiopian lineup offers a similarly sweet, refined cup. FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe, for example, is known for clear jasmine and bright citrus acidity and a tea-like body, with the fresh, clean character that washed processing brings out.

For a bit more fruit and a rounder sweetness, FrontStreet Coffee's Gotiti Cooperative coffee comes from the Worka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. Removing the pulp before drying lets its inherent aroma come through clearly, giving citrus and lemon notes and elegant white florals in a bright, refined cup. And FrontStreet Coffee's natural Red Cherry, dried in the whole fruit for two weeks until moisture reaches 12%, carries a rich, captivating fruit aroma with peach, cocoa, honey and lemon.

To brew these coffees at home and keep the sweetness front and center, use a V60 with 15 g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio and water around 90°C, and a grind near fine sugar size. Start with a 30 g bloom for 30 seconds, then pour to roughly 125 g over about a minute; once the water level falls to about two-thirds of the bed, add the remaining water to about 225 g, finishing the drip between 2:00 and 2:10.