Legado – El Salvador Los Pirineos Black Honey – 250g

Description

This single origin coffee from El Salvador was grown by a farmer who has won his country’s Cup of Excellence competition no less than 8 times! Gilberto Baraona has earned his accolades with a dedication to experimentation, as much as to quality. He’s also leading the charge on the use of new varieties of coffee.
We were quite enamoured with a previous release by our friends at Legado from this estate. This new release is particularly special because it was processed in the Black Honey method. This is a newer approach which is similar to a Natural in that the coffee dries inside some of the remaining coffee cherry fruit.
Roaster’s notes

Roast: Light-Medium

Tasting Notes: Apple Sours, Brown Sugar, Blackberry

Brewing Method Suggestions: Versatile, Filter Machine, V-60 Pour Over, Chemex, Plunger (French Press), Aeropress, Siphon & Espresso

Coffee details
Los Pirineos Coffee farm has been in the Baraona Family from more than 120 years, since 1880.
Gilberto Baraona is a 15 times winner of Cup of Excellence in El Salvador, 6 of which were in the top ten. The Farm is located at the top of the Tecapa Volcano, in the Tecapa Chinameca Coffee Region. The farm has been the experimental ground for several new varietal projects, such as the Central America F1 variety. Currently Los Pirineos is starting to grow more than 10 new varietals that will start producing in 2017. New varietals include Orange Pacamara, Geisha, Bourbon Elite, Bourbon Laurina, Javas, and Kenya. For the lowers altitudes below 1200 meters varietals such as Castillo Naranjal, Costa Rica 95, Lempira, Obata, and Casiopea. Gilberto has a seed garden of 69 varieties and is also now becoming a verified seed distributor of Pacamara, Tekisic & Catisic for World Coffee Research.
The farm and Mill have 50 full time employees taking on a further 75 during the peak of the harvest. Gilberto’s obsession with quality means he pays well above the legal minimum wages to all his staff. He requires far more precision and attention to detail than the average coffee farm and so must invest time and money in the people who manage the processing. Due to the training and support he offers even his temporary staff are consistent from year to year.
Gilberto’s dedication to quality is uncompromising. He has the largest coffee seed bank in private hands in El Salvador and is constantly testing and exploring new options for unique cup character. It is with great excitement that we are working with him and hope to extend our offering from his farms in the coming years. There is real precision to the work on the farm when drying the honey and natural coffees with a team of people constantly turning the coffee to ensure the most uniform drying. Some of the coffee will be sun dried where as all black honey coffee will be shade dried on 128 small individual beds.
Processing: Pulped with 100% of mucilage remaining. Dried on shade beds. Coffee is moved 4 times a day from the first day on the beds Covered at night with total time 20 days drying.

Producer: Gilberto Baraona – Los Pirineos Farm
Harvest: January – March
Varieties: Red Bourbon
Processing Method: Black Honey Process
SCAA Score: 86.25
Region: Tepacan, Usulutan
Country: El Salvador
Elevation: 1,070-1,800 masl