El Salvador Coffee - Montes El Corozo Estate Honey Process Special Feature

Finca Montes El Corozo

Finca: Montes El Corozo

Altitude: 1800-1950M

Variety: Kenya SL28

Processing Method: Honey Process

Grade: SHB

El Salvador, known as the "Land of Volcanoes," is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It is also the only country in Central America that does not border the Atlantic Ocean, with Guatemala to the northwest and Honduras to the northeast.

Salvadoran coffee has a unique flavor profile, characterized by its pleasant aroma, moderate acidity and sweetness, rich fragrance, and charming tonal qualities.

El Salvador is primarily divided into five major producing regions: Apaneca, Central Belt, Chichontepec, Tecapa & Cacahuatique Mountain Range. These regions are mostly distributed on volcanic ash-covered mountain slopes or plateau areas at altitudes above 1,200 meters. Most of these regions use shade-grown cultivation methods. The advantages of this approach include uniform coffee bean maturation, increased mucilage content, higher weight, and enhanced opportunities for polyphenol formation that contributes to sweetness. This allows the main components of coffee beans to fully develop. In contrast, coffee trees with excessive sun exposure experience curled leaf edges, leading to moisture loss, which is detrimental to photosynthesis, reduces carbon dioxide absorption, and decreases sugar formation.

Montes El Corazo Estate

Montes El Corazo Estate began cultivating coffee in 1930, surrounding the very famous "LOS VOLCANES" (Volcano Group) National Park in El Salvador. Rare volcanic flowers can be found around the farm, along with wild animals from the national park such as domesticated reindeer, raccoons, and wild boars, forming an interesting wildlife ecosystem.

Since the estate is located on a volcano, it benefits from extremely fertile volcanic soil and terrain. In 2006, the Ilamapepec volcano erupted, and volcanic ash directly covered the estate. Although the coffee plantation was damaged at the time, a few years later, the fertile volcanic soil coverage created an even richer soil growth environment for the estate.

Since 2016, Montes El Corazo Estate has been a completely organic farm and also holds Rainforest Alliance certification. Coffee production is managed using traditional methods, washed with clean water, and dried in clay courtyards.

Montes El Corazo Estate cultivates coffee using El Salvador's century-old heritage methods. Local Ingas trees, pomelo trees, and olive trees are used as shade trees, with over 75 tree species interplanted to create a natural forest interspersed with coffee trees. The nourishment from this volcanic soil contributes to this beautiful coffee plantation. The variety of this bean is primarily Kenya SL28. Regarding Kenya SL28, it is one of the two most respected varieties produced by Kenya's Scott Laboratories in the 1930s. Although Scott Laboratories no longer exists, it is now the National Agricultural Laboratory, part of Kenya's Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization. Both varieties are Bourbon-derived cultivars, though from different lineages: SL-28 was developed from drought-resistant varieties originally planted in Tanganyika, which is part of modern-day Tanzania; it is generally considered to be of the highest quality but has lower yields compared to other commercial Arabica varieties. These SL variants all exhibit bronze-colored young leaves. The yield from SL28 is not as high as expected, but its bronze leaf color and kidney-shaped beans offer wonderful sweetness, balance, and complex, varied flavors, with notable citrus and plum characteristics. In terms of coffee flavor, it has strong, rich fruit acidity, a rich mouthfeel, and beautiful balance.

Honey Processing Method

This bean uses the honey processing method, which is widely used throughout Central America. Since the mucilage layer on the surface of coffee beans is extremely sticky and has high sugar content, people usually call it "honey." In the honey processing method, coffee retains some or all of the "honey" during drying. After the coffee cherries are picked, graded, and pulped, they are placed on drying beds for drying.

Coffee beans processed using this method have slightly higher acidity than naturally washed coffee, but much lower than both washed and natural sun-dried processing methods.

Roasting Analysis

Roaster: Yangjia 800N (300g batch size)

Preheat the roaster to 180°C, set heat to 120, and open the airflow valve to 3. The temperature returns to 140°C at 1'36", at which point the airflow valve is opened to 4 while keeping the heat unchanged. When the temperature reaches 151°C, the bean surface turns yellow and the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. When the temperature reaches 176°C, adjust the heat to 80 while keeping the airflow unchanged.

At 8'34", ugly wrinkles and black markings appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma. This can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'57", keep the airflow unchanged, develop for 2'05" after first crack, and drop at 196.8°C.

Cupping Notes

Flavor: Sweet orange, berries, fruit tea, honey peach

Pour-over Brewing Suggestions

FrontStreet Coffee recommends brewing method: Pour-over

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 88-90°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: BG 6S (58% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve), which is medium-fine grind

Brewing Technique: Stepped extraction. Use 33g of water for a 30-second bloom. When pouring to 125g with a small circular pour, create a segment. Continue pouring to 228g when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed. Stop pouring and wait for the water level to drop and just expose the coffee bed, then remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time is 1'56".

Flavor: Overall sweetness is prominent. The berries, peach, and sweet orange at the entry taste like fruit tea as the temperature changes, with a honey peach aroma in the aftertaste.

Important Notice :

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