El Salvador – El Borbollon

This coffee comes from the El Borbollon mill and is a blend farms that has been put together by the Alvarez family and the head cupper at El Borbollon Luis Rodriguez. The farms are located on the Apaneca Ilamatepec Mountain Range and mainly on the Santa Ana Volcano and all these farms are RFA certified. In total there are 19 farms that have contributed to this lot. All coffee is delivered to the mill in cherry from the farms where it is washed and floated to separate qualities. The coffee is then pulped before then being fermented overnight.

The fermented beans are then moved to a washing machine where fresh water is used to remove any remaining mucilage and prepare the beans for the drying patios. All water is recycled and is used to move fresh cherries around the wet mill. The washed beans are then taken to the drying patios and kept separate by lot. They will dry there for around 8-10 days, though El Borbollon are experimenting with extending drying periods by laying the beans densely and covering them for parts of the day. It is believed that extending the drying time will result in more complex nuances in the cup.

The dried parchment is then left to rest for around a six weeks before being hulled to remove the parchment. Once hulled, the beans are hand sorted by a group of around 40 women who remove any defects. The women work in shifts, are paid above minimum wage and are highly skilled at their work – Once the hand sorting and defect removal is complete, the sorted beans are then packed into GrainPro and 69kg jute bags ready for shipment.