How to Brew El Salvador La Campanula Estate Red Bourbon Pour-Over Coffee_Is Red Bourbon Pour-Over Delicious?

La Campanula Estate: El Salvador's High-Altitude Coffee Treasure

La Campanula Estate is an ultra-high-altitude farm in El Salvador. Its elevation exceeds 1,650 meters, and the estate's exclusive competition batches are cultivated at 1,750 meters above sea level, making them frequent winners in the Cup of Excellence.

The Lima Family acquired this pristine forest land in the 1990s. At the time, La Campanula was still a wild place, rich in native plants and cold-resistant trees. Because human presence was sparse and the estate sits close to a national park, it became a wildlife sanctuary. On a first visit in 2008, the estate owner still carried a handgun when leaving Santa Ana City — a volcanic eruption had blocked the original route and forced a detour, and the gun was for self-protection and unexpected situations. Seeing the familiar .45 handgun, there was no need to ask further questions; the group set off. The mountain path's climate was variable, and by the time they reached the estate they were already in misty rain.

Because of the high altitude and cold climate, the coffee trees yield relatively little. Most of the cultivation consists of Bourbon and Typica varieties suited to this altitude and more resistant to wind, along with small quantities of Kenya SL varieties specially adapted to high altitudes and rainy conditions. In recent years the large-bean Pacamara variety, popular across Central America, has also been introduced.

The Lima Family has accumulated practical experience managing coffee plantations in El Salvador's major producing regions since 1900 — more than a century to this day.

Location and Terroir

La Campanula Estate is located in the Santa Ana volcanic region. The volcano still erupts, so the estate is often covered with volcanic ash, and its soil is quite fertile. Santa Ana Volcano is famous and important: when discussing high-altitude specialty estates in El Salvador, it must be mentioned. It is a conical stratovolcano, and its 2005 eruption terrified many people. That eruption produced rocks larger than trucks, caused casualties among mountain residents, and severely damaged coffee plantations in the lower areas. Fortunately, the harvest the following year was good, and quality in the high-altitude areas was exceptional. La Campanula Estate belongs to that group.

Santa Ana Volcano is an important symbol of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. The name of the range, in the indigenous language, is pronounced Apaneca-Ilamatepec.

How to Brew El Salvador Coffee: La Campanula Estate Red Bourbon

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-Over Reference:

Weigh out 15g of La Campanula Estate Red Bourbon coffee and grind to a medium consistency. The particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate), water at 89°C, and a V60 dripper for extraction.

Pour the hot water from the kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Begin timing the moment you start brewing. Within 15 seconds, build the brew up to 30g, then stop pouring. When the timer reaches 1 minute, begin the second pour, again in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Keep the stream off the point where the coffee bed meets the filter paper so you don't create channeling.

When you reach the outermost edge of the coffee bed, leave one ring of space, then continue pouring in circles toward the center. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the brew should weigh 220g, and the extraction is complete.

Japanese-Style Ice Pour-Over: La Campanula Estate Red Bourbon

FrontStreet Coffee Ice Pour-Over Reference for La Campanula Estate Red Bourbon:

El Salvador coffee: La Campanula Estate Red Bourbon, medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% standard sieve pass rate).

20g coffee, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. The water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 89°C, so use 90°C. Normal grinding is a Fuji 3.5 setting, while ice pour-over uses a slightly finer setting — Fuji 3.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g of water, second segment 40g. Use a relatively fine but tall water column and stir forcefully so the coffee bed rolls thoroughly. Be careful not to let the water level rise too high, and avoid hitting the edge filter paper.

The entire extraction time is approximately 2.5 minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for 20g of coffee).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Red Bourbon from a cold, high-altitude estate tends to be floral and clean, so it's worth tasting alongside another delicate coffee. FrontStreet Panama Emerald Estate Red Label Geisha is the benchmark here, with elegant jasmine, bergamot and black-tea notes over citrus, a transparent, clean body and a long, layered finish. For a more fruit-forward cup, FrontStreet Ethiopia Natural Huakui brings cream strawberry, mango, jackfruit, citrus and blueberry from a traditional natural process. Both are light, aromatic coffees that suit a V60 or a Japanese iced pour-over.