How to Make El Salvador Monte Rey PB Coffee Sweeter with Pour-Over Brewing

Coffee Information

Country: El Salvador

Grade: PB

Variety: Bourbon

Altitude: 1650 meters

Region: Monterey

Processing method: Washed

El Salvador's Coffee Excellence

El Salvador's coffee has gained international recognition in recent years, thanks to close collaboration between small coffee farmers and international organisations dedicated to improving cultivation and processing. The primary goal is to raise farmers' incomes so their homes and communities can improve, which gives growers an incentive to change their practices and restore the natural ecosystem. Coffee quality then improves naturally and progressively, consumers become willing to buy Salvadoran coffee, and consumption patterns align with the natural ecology. This is the most ideal kind of agricultural marketing.

This is a high-altitude hard bean (S.H.G) from pristine forest.

Most coffee from El Salvador is of the traditional Bourbon variety, including derivatives such as Yellow Bourbon, Orange Bourbon, and Cherry Bourbon. In a market that emphasises each farm's unique character, Salvadoran coffee has always been loved for its rich fragrance, sweet brown sugar and honey notes, and a stable, mellow flavour profile.

The Monterey Estate in El Salvador sits near El Imposible National Park. The coffee grows in fertile volcanic soil above 1,100 meters, benefiting from an ideal growing environment of morning and evening rain, afternoon fog, and large temperature differences. In addition, Monterey Estate obtained Rainforest Alliance (R.A.) and United States Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) certifications in 2006. The beans must grow naturally and organically, which slows growth, produces smaller beans, and raises coffee density. Together these factors make Monterey Estate a plantation renowned for its sweetness and perfection.

Traditional Bourbon green beans from El Salvador have a yellowish-brown colour.

Monterey Estate consists of 100% traditional Bourbon processed by the washed method, with an annual production of 600 bags (3,000 kg). Defective beans are carefully removed by hand, with a rejection rate of approximately 5%. Roasted to a light roast (city), the beans lose 14% of their weight, with empty shells and defective beans accounting for 4%. Light roasting preserves more moisture and fruit acidity and enhances berry aromas, while dark roasting yields the most mellow, rich chocolate and hazelnut sweetness.

How to Brew El Salvador Coffee [Monterey PB]

FrontStreet Coffee pour-over reference: Weigh out 15g of [Monterey PB] coffee and grind it to a medium setting. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 5R (60% pass-through on a standard sieve), a water temperature of 89 degrees C, and a V60 dripper to extract.

Pour hot water from a gooseneck kettle in clockwise circles centred on the middle of the filter. Start the timer when brewing begins. In 15 seconds, brew to 30g, then stop pouring. When the timer reaches 1 minute, begin the second pour. As before, pour in clockwise circles centred on the middle of the filter, and avoid pouring onto the area where the grounds meet the filter paper, to prevent channelling.

Leave one ring of space when pouring to the outermost edge of the grounds, then circle back toward the centre. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the coffee should be brewed to 220g, and the process is complete.

Japanese-style Iced Pour-over [Monterey PB]

FrontStreet Coffee iced pour-over [Monterey PB] reference:

El Salvador coffee [Monterey PB], medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% pass-through on a standard sieve).

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

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g of water, second segment 40g. Use a fine but high water column with a forceful stirring effect so the grounds roll fully. Be careful, however, not to let the liquid level rise too high, and avoid pouring on the edge filter paper.

The entire extraction takes approximately 2.5 minutes, similar to the normal extraction time for 20g of grounds.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

This bright, washed, medium-roasted coffee shows just how much a V60 can do, and if you enjoy brewing this way, FrontStreet Coffee has several single origins that suit it beautifully. FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gudingding is a washed Ethiopian coffee with clear citrus, berry, and floral notes and a green-tea sweetness, gentle and easy to accept for anyone new to pour-over.

For more fruit, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Huakui is famous for its vivid tropical aromas of strawberry, passion fruit, and jackfruit, with pronounced sweetness and almost no bitterness, while FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Small Tomato, from the Thika region at 1,550-1,750 meters, is washed and light roasted to highlight cherry tomato and dark plum acidity with a juicy body.

If you prefer a fuller, sweeter cup, FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, Brazil Queen's Estate, and Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 all use the medium to medium-dark roasts that round out a V60 pour, with notes ranging from herbal dark chocolate and caramel to creamy peanut and the classic balance of Blue Mountain.