Salvadoran Coffee Bean Processing Methods and Flavor Profile of Lemus Estate Black Honey Process

Everyone knows that coffee has many processing methods, and each processing method brings different flavors. Today, we'll mainly look at the three processing methods for coffee beans from El Salvador.

In El Salvador (and most of Central America), wet mills use mechanical depulpers such as Jotagallo or Ecopulper. These machines first remove the skin and pulp. A second optional step is mechanically removing the mucilage through rapid rotation. This can remove 80-90% of the mucilage from the parchment, with the remaining mucilage staying on the parchment during the drying process. This is the standard washing process.

Soaked and Double Soaked

Many coffees from El Salvador are soaked, which means they add an extra step of soaking in clean water overnight to remove any remaining mucilage. There are many reasons for adding this process, including transparent cup profiles and more uniform drying for extended shelf life.

The latest experimental process is called double soaking. All mucilage is retained (skipping the spinning step), then the coffee is fermented underwater overnight, rinsed clean with water, and then soaked for another 10 hours. This is similar to the traditional approach for Ethiopian coffee. The idea is to use the same cherries and adjust the pulping/fermentation process to see how the flavor changes. So far, the results have been very good!

Honeys

We now produce more honey coffee from El Salvador than before. Producers retain all the mucilage on the beans (full honey), with most dried on raised beds. Some are dried on beds and patios in the shade.

Most of FrontStreet Coffee's El Salvador coffees undergo honey processing, especially the Lemons Estate black honey processing, which has a citrus and berry flavor profile with a cocoa finish and no bitterness.

Naturals

As for naturals, most are dried in the sun on raised beds. Some plots are dried on beds and patios in the shade.

Drying

Drying is traditionally done on concrete or clay patios. But many producers have also started drying coffee on drying beds. Depending on the altitude, temperatures will vary, and drying times will also differ. However, this can also be managed by stacking layers of cherries on the beds. Many Central American coffees deteriorate quickly and taste old even within 6 months after harvest. This has much to do with drying, as you may not realize that coffee can be dried in 2-4 days. El Salvador has had extensive discussions and conducted many trials to increase drying time. In most cases, it can be layered and the parchment covered in the middle to keep it still and achieve more uniform drying, which helps with aging and cup profile.

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