And we are back with another Salaverria experimental lot!

This is the first microlot we feature this year from the farms of the Salaverria family, who's been growing coffee for five generations. They manage a few farms that work exclusively with high-quality micro-lots in the Apaneca-Llamatepec area of El Salvador.

Apaneca-Ilamatepec is a volcanic mountain range in El Salvador, with the active IIamatepec volcano. The region is the country's top coffee-growing area, with 37 districts, over 9,740 families, and 70,881 hectares of land. It produces 53% of the country's total coffee production.

Andrés Salaverría has been passionate about coffee growing since childhood. His family has been in the coffee-growing business for over a century, with farms in several regions of El Salvador. He has been involved in the family business for 11 years and has completed a master's degree in coffee economics. After returning to El Salvador in 2011, he focused on the coffee farms' commercial, industrial, and administrative aspects. The family is dedicated to diversifying their products and adopting new processes.

Their objective has always been to diversify their products and to stay up to date on new trends in coffee production processes from other coffee-producing countries to replicate them in their beloved country of El Salvador.

One of the Salaverría family's most essential farms is the San Francisco farm, which is not only home to a coffee-producing region, but also a natural forest reserve. This reserve was donated to the National Forestry Association of El Salvador to preserve a beautiful habitat for many exotic species of plants and animals. The San Francisco farm is located near the town of La Majadac in the district of Juayúa. Its rich volcanic soils make it an ideal place for growing coffee.

The coffee at the San Francisco farm is grown in the shade, and harvesting is done selectively by hand, picking only fully ripe cherries. Social and environmental activities play a significant role in the daily activities of the farm and the family business. They always strive to provide the surrounding communities with health services and infrastructure for educational activities.

This specific lot has been subjected to a unique experimental process called the 'Anaerobic Natural + Sleeping Bag.'

During the first anaerobic natural process, the coffee cherries are left for 120H in sealed tanks (Barril Estanco) without oxygen but with a unidirectional valve to be able to expel it, allowing the naturally occurring bacteria and yeasts on the cherry to break down the fruit sugars and develop unique flavors.

The second fermentation phase is then carried out using the Sleeping Bag technique, which involves placing the cherries in a dark plastic bag for 14 days to maintain humidity and increase the fermentation process.

After the fermentation process, the beans are dried using the same Sleeping Bag technique.

The process alternates between open and closed phases. When the coffee is opened and evenly distributed, normal surface drying occurs. Additionally, the coffee is periodically tightly covered with plastic, like in a sleeping bag. During the day, it accelerates fermentation and slows down drying, and the resulting humidity and volatile aromatic substances cannot escape from the "bag" and remain with the coffee. At night, when the temperature drops and the ambient moisture abruptly increases, the plastic film and the compactness of the cherries slow down the temperature drop and prevent the beans from gaining moisture from the environment. This technique dramatically increases fermentation and maintains the high density of the grains.

This method helps maintain the bean's density, which is crucial for the quality of the coffee. The result is a coffee that is bursting with fruity and funky notes, which come from the unique combination of anaerobic fermentation and the Sleeping Bag technique.

In the cup: super complex, perfumy, and powerful!

Aroma: Apricot, cocoa nibs, tropical fruits.

Tasting notes: Apricot, deep fruit/funky notes, cocoa nibs, lychee. Amazingly long and sweet aftertaste! Vibrant and complex acidity, silky body.

 Resting period: at least 5 days for filter roast.