El Salvador - El Batallon (Natural)

Cupping Notes: Raspberry & Milk Chocolate with subtle hints of Clove

Origin: Ahuachapan a Ataco

Producers: Jan-Carlo & Sofia Handtke

Processing: Natural

Altitude: 1350 MASL

Varietals: Pacamara

Imported by Balzac Brothers

More about this coffee...

Mapache Coffee is a fifth-generation company of coffee producers, owned and managed by Jan-Carlo and Sofia Handtke in the Apaneca Ilamatepec mountain range of El Salvador. Mapache Coffee employs over 125 locals year-round, but during harvest season, their staff swells to 600 people who work together to build coffee nurseries, replant at Mapache’s six farm properties, and process the perfectly ripe cherries that come from them. Mapache maintains a strong commitment to the well-being of the coffee forests, ensuring that every farm has a canopy protecting the coffee plants and soil. Their modern wet mill uses limited amounts of water during the washing process, then recycles and reuses that water in the same process. All the remaining pulp from the wet milling process is incorporated back into the farms as compost, returning key nutrients to the soil. Mapache's Pacamara varietal is selected and picked with a particular level of care, as this varietal requires more time to ripen than others. This specific lot comes from a part of the farm called El Batallón, which can be difficult to access due to its narrow roads. Here, nimble pickup trucks haul small loads of cherries to transfer to a larger truck parked at a nearby soccer field at Finca El Naranjito. The Pacamara varietal, first created in 1958, was derived by crossing the Pacas and Maragogipe varietals. This particular lot, one of our favorite Salvadoran coffees of the season, balances notes of raspberry and chocolate with subtle hints of clove. Enjoy!