El Salvador Natural Siberia Estate

This is a single varietal Bourbon coffee from El Salvador, and not just that, but it is from the legendary Siberia Estate in the Santa Ana growing region.

El Salvador grows a lot of bourbon coffee, and it is not as disease resistant or high yielding as modern varietals, but it does seem to grow well in El Salvador. Siberia Estate was named as such because it is 4000 feet up a treacherous mountain, making it remote and difficult to reach. They have been growing coffee here since 1870, and it is now being farmed by the 4th generation of the same family that founded it. At that time, there were no roads or paths into the mountains here, and the farmer walked up and down the mountain several times those first few years. These days, they are still remote, although access has improved. They love to experiment and innovate, and we always look forward to their offerings. They only produced four bags of natural process coffee this year, and they did it just for us.

Natural coffees from Central America tend to be creamy with fruity and sweet qualities to it. The predominant fruit in this one is orange, maybe like a mandarin orange. The aroma is strongly of caramel, but only a mild caramel in the taste. A lot of sweetness though. All in all a pretty mild coffee, but very drinkable. Reminds me of a honey-processed coffee with its soft mouthfeel, low acidity, sweet fruit, and pleasantness. A coffee like this appeals to pretty much everyone, because if they want "normal coffee" it's not so weird that they find it unusual.

Our first couple roasts of this were too light, ended up tasting grassy and vegetal. You want to take this a little darker than an Ethiopia or Costa Rica natural...roast it a good 40 seconds past the end of the 1st cracks. Don't take it dark though. As with most natural-processed coffees, it is going to taste burnt if you take it to the 2nd cracks.

US Arrival: October 2021