About this coffee

The department of Morazan, an area of ancient forests, has a long tradition of coffee cultivation. Indigenous languages that are spoken by very few in the community identify this land as "Lenca", which roughly translates to "The Land of Abundant Water". The bounty of fresh water, fertile land, and incredible altitudes lead to the formation of "cloud forests,"which protect plants from extreme weather. The El Rio Grande de San Miguel, one of the main water sources for the eastern part of El Salvador, feeds over 20 communities and allows producers to flourish even with harsh weather fluctuations and droughts. The community is working with our importing partners, Caravela, to maintain forest-shade tree growth and fend off encroaching deforestation by timber and sawmill businesses by growing coffees that command higher premiums. This enables sustainable innovations such as diversification of coffee cultivars for greater yields and the construction of raised African drying beds.

Flavor

Each year, the El Salvador Lenca is one of our favorite Central American coffees. This lot is very complex, bright and has layers of honey and caramel sweetness. Lighter roasts styles were exceptionally nuanced and we tasted some floral and citrus notes that reminded us of orange blossom honey. Taken to the medium roast level we began to taste deeper notes of maple and milk chocolate with a creamy body. Darker roasts were excellent as well with a thick body and notes of fudge, crème brûlée, toasted hazelnut and toasted marshmallow. Works well across all brew methods, but we loved this coffee as a light roasted pour-over and darker roasted single-origin espresso.