Climpson & Sons - Single Origin: La Cabana, El Salvador

Our Head Roaster, Simon, visited El Salvador earlier in the year and spent a week cupping through this year’s harvest with producers, Jose Antonio and Andres Salaverria of the JASAL group. Through the blind cupping of over 50 different coffees Simon picked four unique lots, which stood out for their sweetness, clarity and complexity. At Climpson and Sons we have been working with coffee's from JASAL for a number of years with this year harvest bringing the first production of the washed and double-soaked method. To be involved with selecting some of the first double-soaked lots has been an incredible experience and only shows the benefit of working closely with producers and exporters.

Set in the mountain range of Apaneca Ilamatepec, the sprawling Finca San Francisco complex is divided by various hills ('cerros') or tables/blocks ('tablónes'). During harvest season, only ripe cherries are picked and taken down to the Las Cruces mill. Here they are pulped and washed before then being soaked in clean water, rinsed and then soaked again the next day. These are then dried slowly on the surrounding patios for 2 weeks. This extended fermentation process is much more involved than their basic washed method but also yields a much brighter and cleaner cup profile.