From the “way back machine” – another harvest time Central America trip to learn about the crop in El SalvadorEl Salvador coffee had an undeservingly poor reputation for years, marred mostly by the inability to deliver coffee of high quality in an unstable political climate. Unfortunately, agriculture... ...more – a bit too early to do much cupping
Cupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest.... ...more though.
This was one of 2 trips I made that year to learn more about El Salvador. The second trip was to attend the Cup of ExcellenceThe Cup of Excellence is a competition held yearly in many coffee-producing countries, designed to highlight the very best coffees from each origin.: The Cup of Excellence (COE)... ...more as a judge.
Coffee is well-managed in El Salvador generally. They care for the farms well, prune, and pick very well. In general the quality of the selective picking of ripe cherry
Either a flavor in the coffee, or referring to the fruit of the coffee tree, which somewhat resembles a red cherry.: Either a flavor in the coffee, or... ...more is unmatched!
Somehow the coffees, many from 1200 meters or so, are a balanced and a bit average. This is surprising given there are so many old BourbonA coffee cultivar; a cross between Typica and Bourbon, originally grown in Brazil: Mundo Novo is a commercial coffee cultivar; a natural hybrid between "Sumatra" and Red Bourbon,... ...more varietyA botanical variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the rank of species and subspecies and above the rank of form (form / variety / subspecies... ...more coffees trees (as well as the similar PacasA mutation of Bourbon cultivar that appeared in El Salvador in 1949: Pacas is a natural mutation of Bourbon cultivar that appeared in El Salvador in 1949. It... ...more variety).
With the excellent quality of harvesting, and good coffee tree cultivars you would expect the baseline coffees to be quite high in cup quality. Don’t get me wrong, they are good, and very useful in espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is... ...more I think.
A highlight in El Salvador can be the Pacas x MaragogypeMaragogype is a mutation of Typica coffee and was discovered in Brazil. The Maragogype is a large plant with big leaves, low production and very large fruits (and... ...more cross: PacamaraAs the name implies, Pacamara is a large bean cultivar, a cross between Pacas and Maragogype with unique flavor properties. This variant originated in El Salvador in 1958,... ...more. When it is low grown it can taste a bit oniony, but from higher ranges it is fruitedIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don't exactly see... ...more citric and a bit floral
Floral notes in coffee exemplify the connection between taste and smell. Describing the taste of a specific flower is near impossible...we always default to “it tastes like it... ...more. – Thompson
To do the Algovio method, only 300 trees can be in an area of one manzana (about 2 hectares I believe) whereas there might be 800 to 1000 with usual methods. Here is a trunk that is amazingly broad and old, 80 to 100 years. 
Here are the different tree management styles. El Salvador is amazing because it has traditional Bourbon cultivar on most farms and VERY old trees. This is they typical method when a tree – every 7-10 years you cut the tree and allow it to regrow. 
This is a method that improves on the total cut, called the Pelo y Barba (Hair and Beard). Pelo is the tall branch, Barba the short, This allows for more growth and recovery from the cut, which means quicker return to coffee production. 
The most interesting method of managing old Bourbon trees is called Algovio. 2 or 3 main upright branches are left on the old trunk. They are bent over, either by tying them down with wire cables, or by literally “massaging” the branch into this position after the rains have come. Off each of these horizontals will come vertical new growth and 2-3 are allowed to remain. So a single trunk ends up with between 4 and 9 main verticals for coffee production. 
Incredible sunset over the Izalco (also sp Itzalco) volcano viewed from the Santa Rita Estate, on Santa Ana volcano. Santa Rita is 1340 to 1750 meters in altitude, and was heavily damaged by the Santa Ana volcano eruption last year. 
Yes, El Salvador, a tasty plate of visual and gustatory treats … wait, where are the Papusas??? 
I was amazed at the quality of the cherry coming in, the uniform ripeness. 
The sheer volume of cherry coming in, and the high quality of the picking was beyond belief. 
That evening we spent at the Las Cruces mill in Los Naranjos, watching the cherry come in to be processed. It’s a dirty job, and these guys are amazingly strong. The mill runs all night long during the peak of the harvest. 
We had a nighttime cupping session, and I was dead tired. But the coffees were quite good! Of course, I always photograph all the roasters I see. This is a “Sarti” roaster made in El Salvador. 
Here is a neat electric roaster made by a local fabricator. It roast 180 gram samples in about 10 minutes. 
This is the Guatemalan-made Rea Roaster. 
Jose Antonio Jr., recently back from completing his degree in hotel and business management in the US. 
The cuppers at JASAL: Jorge, Douglas and Mario. Jorge has a lot of experience and has gone through the whole Q Grading program. 
Out on the patios, the pulped natural cherry was beins spread out, even at night, and continuosly raked to promote even drying. 
The cool truck, a German “Man” mark. 
Another view of the cherry coming into the mill. 
Bob and Aida among the wet-milling machines. 
Our group in El Salvador; Aida Batlle, left, works with Jose Antonio Salaverria, right, who heads up JASAL, a coffee farm management company and exporter. Both Aida and Jos Antonio have their own family properties too. Aida is our source for the amazing Kilimanjaro coffee. In the center, Bob Fulmer of Royal Coffee, my travel pardner. 
Next day we wet up tothe Cerro Las Ranas area, looking back at where we were the night before (the Santa Ana volcano is shrouded by clouds in the upper left corner.) 
The farm name here is San Francisco, and you can see the lined windbreaks towering above the coffee. This region has very high winds, and the coffee must be protected. 
Bob on a 4 wheeler. I ride motorcycles and could not figure this out. I kept trying to lean, and to put my foot down. I must have looked pretty lame, but I fgured it out a bit on the way down. 
At the San Francisco farm they have their own varietal, also called San Francisco. It is green tipped. 
San Francisco is a cross between Bourbon and Pacas varietals, and has good production. 
Another image showing the wind break, looking north from Cerro Las Ranas (which means Frog Hill). Las Ranas is 1400 to 1780 meters, and Monteleon (ie the Monte Leon Pulped Natural we had last year) is across the way, ranging from 1450 to 1500 meters. 
Chicken? Dog? Lama? Who cares, it looks great! 
Ditto. 
Damage from last years eruption of the Santa Ana volcano. Depending on the direction of the farm in relation to the wind, damage to trees was severe in some places. Here is burning from fallen ash. Ash is all over the ground in varying thickness. Many farms lost trees completely, or had subsequent mudslide damage. Some had all the leaves fall off trees, but the cherry remained. 
We stopped for lunch at this amazing restaurant named El Jardin de Celeste. They had a couple mid-sized roasters of some age there (not in use), 
This one was probably 40-80 years old, hard to say. It probably had a 10 Lb. capacity. 
Nice decorative touches at El Jardine de Celeste. The food was great, the deserts even greater. I had Maracuyá pie, that is, Passion Fruit custard. Amazing. 
A No. 5 Royal Roaster at Jose Antonio’s home near EL Molino de Santa Rita. 
Of course I climbed it! A manipulated 2 trunk Ficus of some kind. I went about 40 feet up before good sense got the better of me. 
Jose Antonio is very proud of his champion Peruvian Paso horses (the same type Irwin has, pictured earlier). This is is current show horse, Senor Desarollo 
Senor Desarollo, a bit closer. 
Zora on one of her little bursts of speed. She is all legs. 
Mother and philly; Linda Moreno and little Zora (which means female fox). 
The father of Senor Desarollo, Morenito, who was brought from Peru. This mid-stride photo shows their famous style. 
Morenito, retired from showing, but still in great form. 
Aida and I headed out to find the famous Orange Bourbon cultivar she had told me about. I had to collect seeds for my little Oakland coffee garden. Nope – yellow. 
Okay, it’s Bourbon, and it is red … 
Aha! Orange Bourbon! It’s amazing to me that this is a stable, reproducable plant, not simply an occasional freak tree. 
New tips on the Orange Bourbon are green. 
… and the foreman was proud to show me the heavy production and even ripening in the shaded areas. Cafe Sombra – it works. 
We also looked over the style of this farm (which each individual farm foreman is allowed to customize to local conditions and their ideas). This farm is heavily shaded … 
And some groovy glass clowns too … 
Sorting her coffee after picking at San Francisco estate. 
I wandered around and got this really nice Praying Mantis photo. 
Pure Sculpture . Who can resist the beauty of topiary? Not I … 
Volcanos of El Salvador. Alas, time to go back to my world, the dogs, the icy cold warehouse, and bazillion emails and cupping samples. Well we can’t all live on volcanos, but I fully enjoy my perogative to visit them from time to time.
