El Salvador Black Beauty Estate Fiery Natural Coffee Brewing Suggestions_El Salvador Natural Process Roasting Guide

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Salvadoran Coffee Estate - Buena Vista Estate

| Region: Buena Vista

| Varieties: 15% PACAMARA, BOURBON, CATURRA

| Grade: SHB

| Processing Method: Natural Process

| Roast Level: Medium-Light Roast

| Growing Altitude: 1250-1350m

| Harvest Year: 2017

For coffee lovers who value getting the most cup for their money, this Salvadoran coffee—Natural Process Black Beauty—comes highly recommended. It is a wonderful and near-perfect combination of 15% Pacamara plus Bourbon and Caturra.

It originates from Turin, Ahuachapan, in El Salvador, on the shores of the country's national volcanic lake. This historic estate grows coffee along the volcanic lines, with Pacamara, Bourbon and Caturra varieties. The estate owner blends 15% of the plump Pacamara with the sweet, honey-like character of the treasured national heritage Bourbon and the rich body of Caturra. Under El Salvador's characteristically hot tropical climate, the beans take a full sunbath rich in ultraviolet rays during harvest season. El Salvador is genuinely well suited to producing natural process coffee beans.

Ahuachapan Laguna Llano El Espino can be considered an important tourist volcanic lake in El Salvador. At the airport location on the horizon there is extremely intense sunlight. Driving up the mountain to this spot, the natural volcanic lake water provides temperature regulation along with moisture brought in from the Pacific Ocean, making the climate here cool and comfortable. The soil consists of red earth and volcanic soil, nourishing the land. With various patches of primitive forest, many migratory birds from North America come here to nest. Because the ecosystem cycles continuously, the lake also holds numerous fish and shellfish species. You can imagine how such fertile land produces coffee that grows plump and full of wonderful flavor. Surrounded by volcanoes, the lake has several sulfur mines and geothermal power plants nearby. When our coffee team visited the location, it felt like a truly fertile land with a marvelous ecological chain.

Estate Details

Estate: Buena Vista Estate

Processing Method: Fiery Natural Process

Varieties: Pacamara, Bourbon, Caturra

Altitude: 1250-1350m

Flavor Profile: Intense berry flavors, blackcurrant, cherry, lychee, honey plum, rich honey-like sweetness, full body, fruit tea-like aftertaste, with excellent balance and clarity.

Brewing Recommendations

| Water Temperature: 90°C

| Time: 2 minutes 20 seconds

| Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:15

Evaluation: We tested three different roast levels and finally settled on a medium-light roast at the middle-to-late stage of first crack. The beans are full and aromatic with excellent fragrance. On the first sip, the clean, refreshing fruit acidity immediately fills the palate, with remarkable clarity and sweetness reminiscent of smoked plums and cherries.

How to Brew Salvadoran Coffee [Buena Vista Estate] Perfectly?

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over reference: Weigh 15g of [Buena Vista Estate] coffee grounds and pour them into a grinder for a medium grind. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use BG grinder setting 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate), water temperature 90°C, extracted with a V60 dripper.

Starting from the center of the filter as the focal point, pour hot water from the gooseneck kettle in clockwise circles. Start timing when brewing begins. Within 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring. When the time reaches 1 minute, begin the second pour. For the second pour, keep the same technique: use the center of the filter as the focal point and pour in clockwise circles. Make sure the water stream does not hit the area where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, to avoid channeling.

When pouring to the outermost circle of coffee grounds, leave one circle of space, then continue pouring circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds, brew the coffee to 220g to complete the brewing process.

Japanese-Style Iced Pour-Over [Buena Vista Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee's iced pour-over reference for [Buena Vista Estate]:

Salvadoran coffee [Buena Vista Estate], medium-light roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% standard sieve pass rate)

20g coffee grounds, 150g ice, 150g hot water. Water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 90°C. For a normal grind, use the Fuji Mini Mill at setting 3.5; for iced pour-over, grind slightly finer by half a setting—Fuji Mini Mill at setting 3.

Bloom water amount: 40g, bloom time: 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g water, second segment 40g water. Use a relatively fine but tall water column for pouring, applying a forceful stirring impact so the coffee grounds roll thoroughly. Be careful, however, not to let the liquid level rise too high, and avoid hitting the filter paper at the edges.

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

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

El Salvador's Buena Vista Estate shows what a well-executed natural process can do with ripe fruit and strong sunlight, and FrontStreet carries a whole family of natural-process coffees in the same spirit. FrontStreet's 2013 Natural Yunnan small-grain Typica is grown and produced on FrontStreet's own estate; Yunnan has only a dry season and a rainy season rather than four distinct seasons, and the coffee ripens when the sun is most reliable, so the cherries are dried in the sun. The long exposure underlines the bean's nutty character while keeping the acidity and sweetness in balance, with a little more sweetness than a conventional washed coffee, berry-like acidity, and notes of dried apricot and brown sugar with a light tea sensation. For a more overtly fruit-driven cup, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry is picked only from fully ripe red cherries and dried on raised beds, then given a medium-light roast so that, beyond its elegant floral notes and bright acidity, it shows distinct tropical fruit, a full fermented quality and plenty of sweetness. FrontStreet's natural Huakui, from a high-altitude Ethiopian plot with a classic Sidama natural process and a medium-light roast, brings light fermentation, florals, citrus and mango together with honey sweetness, a cocoa edge and a hint of spice over a thick body and a long finish.

Natural-process coffees carry more fruit sugars from the dried cherry, so they can turn heavy or boozy if you extract them hard; keep the grind medium-fine, hold the water at about 90°C, and use a 1:15 ratio so the honeyed sweetness stays bright and clean rather than cloying.