December's Bean of the Month El Salvador Rosa Apaneca is a festive delight!
This red bourbon coffee is a fruit bonbon bursting with sweetness. It opens with the delicate fragrance of coffee blossom and blackberries, followed by bright flavours of toffee apple, candied cherry, and date.
With an impressive cupping score of 87/100, it's truly something special.
This red bourbon coffee is a fruit bonbon bursting with sweet flavours. El Salvador Rosa Apaneca's notes begin with the fragrance of coffee blossom and blackberries, bright and light. In the cup the flavours are toffee apple, candied cherry, and date.
The body is winey, like a glass of merlot, with crisp citrus acidity and a strawberry and tangerine finish. Brewed as an espresso, the flavours are rich and toffee-like, while the fruits shine through in a filter coffee.
Cold drip delivers a cherry liqueur like concentration, and served chilled as an iced latte the flavours are rich and delicious to the last sip.
COFFEE ORIGIN PROFILE
Country: El Salvador
Region: El Balsamo
Producer: Belismelis family
Farm: La Esperanza
Varietals: Red Bourbon
Process: Natural
Altitude: 1000 -1450m above sea level.
Don Emilio Belismelis moved to El Salvador from Cadiz, Spain in 1863, and started his coffee farm in Santa Ana. Five generations later, his descendants Raul Alvarez Belismelis and Sebastian Alvarez Borgonovo are the latest links in the chain of this great coffee growing family.
Their farm, La Esperanza, sits on the border of El Boqueron National Park and overlooks the Zapotitan Valley. Dedicated to preserving this spectacular environment, the Belismelis family have achieved Rainforest Alliance certification for their properties.
TASTING NOTES & CUPPING PROFILE
Red bourbon is a tricky type of coffee tree to grow, susceptible to pests and requiring careful tending. The risks come with fine rewards, as is evident from a sip of the El Salvador Rosa Apaneca.
Sweet and crisp, with flavours of toffee apple, candied cherries, and dates, with a strawberry and tangerine finish. The body is medium and winey, sitting like a fruit forward merlot on the palate.
The aroma is a mix of delicate floral - coffee blossoms are reminiscent of cherry, apricot, or plum blossoms - and dense blackberries.
Aromas: coffee blossom, blackberry
Flavours: toffee apple, candied cherry, date
Acidity: crisp citrus
Body: winey, medium
Aftertaste: strawberry, tangerine
Cupping Score: 87
BREW GUIDE
Toffee apple, candied cherry, and date are such sweet flavours. El Salvador Rosa Apaneca is a coffee that works beautifully concentrated into an espresso shot, immersed in an Aeropress or gently extracted through a filter coffee, so we've given you a recipe for each!
Espresso shot:
Dose: 21 g
Grind: 4.0
Temperature: 93 degrees Celsius
Brew time: 25 - 30 seconds
Brew weight: 44g
Ratio: 1:2.1
Aeropress
For this one we brought back the James Hoffman Ultimate Aeropress Technique. If you haven't tried it, or need a refresher read below.
This approach ensures a clean, balanced brew that highlights the coffee's unique flavour notes.
V60 Pourover Method
Coffee dose: 22g
Grind: 4.7
Water temperature: 93°C
Time: 3:30 minutes
Steps:
Place a paper filter in the V60, rinse with hot water to remove any paper taste and preheat the dripper. Discard the rinse water.