El Salvador Coffee | El Salvador Coffee Flavor | El Salvador Finca Montes El Coro WBC Champion Bean

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to the 2017 WBC Champion Estate: El Salvador Montes El Corozo

How does the new-season El Salvador SL28 from Montes El Corozo, the estate behind the 2017 WBC champion beans, actually taste? Let's take a closer look.

Finca Montes El Corozo

El Salvador Montes El Corozo Estate

Estate: Montes El Corozo Estate

Altitude: 1800-1950M

Variety: Kenya SL28

Processing Method: Washed

Grade: SHB

[Montes El Corozo Estate]

Montes El Corozo Estate began planting coffee in 1930, around El Salvador's famous "LOS VOLCANES" (Volcanoes) National Park. Rare volcanic flowers grow around the farm, and wildlife from the national park, including deer, raccoons and wild boars, forms an interesting ecosystem.

Because the estate sits on a volcano, it has very fertile volcanic terrain. In 2006 the Ilamatepec volcano erupted and volcanic ash fell directly over the estate. Although the coffee plantation was damaged at the time, a few years later the fertile volcanic layer created an even richer soil environment for the farm.

Since 2016, Montes El Corozo Estate has been a fully organic farm with Rainforest Alliance certification. Coffee production is managed with traditional techniques, washed with clear water and dried in clay courtyards.

The estate is cultivated using El Salvador's century-old heritage methods. Local Ingas trees, pomelo trees and olive trees serve as shade, and more than 75 tree species are cross-planted to form a natural forest interspersed with coffee trees. The nourishment from this volcanic soil is what creates this beautiful coffee plantation.

Variety

Kenya SL-28 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 the Kenya 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, now part of modern Tanzania. It is generally considered to have the highest quality, but its yield is not high compared with other commercial Arabica varieties.

This SL variant shows bronze-colored young leaves. SL28's yield falls short of expectations, but its copper-colored leaves and broad, bean-shaped seeds give wonderful sweetness, balance and complex, varied flavor, along with distinctive citrus and plum characteristics. The coffee has strong, rich fruit acidity, a full mouthfeel and beautiful balance.

Washed Processing Method

Screening coffee cherries — removing pulp — fermentation — washing — drying — hulling

The screened cherries go into a depulper to remove the skin and pulp; beans with residual pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation the parchment-covered beans are moved into flowing water channels to wash away pulp and mucilage; after washing the beans are air-dried or machine-dried down to a moisture content of about 12%. Finally the parchment is removed from the beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washed processing is what gives a coffee like this its clarity, and it is the thread that runs through the FrontStreet Coffee beans most suited to the same bright, clean style. FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gedingding Cooperative, from the Gedingding village at the southeast edge of Yirgacheffe, uses traditional washing and a medium-light roast to show jasmine aroma and bright citrus acidity with green tea and honey notes, and it works as pour-over, cold brew or espresso.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Tomato is one of the best-known washed representatives: Kenya's double-washed method repeats the washing step, first soaking and floating the beans, then scrubbing away surface mucilage, soaking again, drying and hulling. The repeated rinsing and soaking draw out the juice to the fullest, giving cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum and brown sugar notes with a sweet-tart, juicy body.

FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 shows the other face of washed coffee. Jamaica's island climate brought limited sunlight, so washing was adopted to reduce the risk of spoilage by removing skin, pulp and mucilage before drying, which shortens drying time and yields bright, low-defect beans. The result is a rich aroma with clean hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel notes and a balance in which no single note dominates.