In February, I had a chance to visit the coffee farm Finca Los Planes in the Chelatanango region of El Salvador. Los Planes is owned by Sergio and Isabel Ticas. Their farm is known for excellent Red Bourbon and Pacamara coffee varietals. Some have called their Pacamara the best in the world. Their Pacamara variety, which carries the name of the Finca(farm), Los Planes, has long been a favorite coffee of mine. Needless to say, it was an experience I will not soon forget.
On our trip, we had a chance to taste the new crop of coffees. Sergio and his staff had done some experimenting with processing methods during this harvest. One of the ways they processed the coffee is referred to as “Honey” process. This involves removing only the outer skin of the coffee cherry and leaving the soft part of the fruit on the coffee bean. The coffee is then dried on the patios with the mucilage still intact. Processing coffee in this fashion takes more care and attention but if all goes well, an amazingly clean, sweet cup of coffee is the result. Well, that’s exactly what happened. When we tasted it, we knew we had something excellent on our hands.
The exciting thing is that Jeff Taylor, from PT’s Coffee Roasters, allowed us to secure exclusivity on the small lot of Honey-processed Pacamara coffee (They kept back a small portion for their own uses but the rest is all ours!). Of course PT’s is roasting it for us, so you know it’g good. It’s a pretty amazing opportunity for a shop of our size and scope. If you are interested in trying some of this beautiful Los Planes Pacamara Honey coffee, you’ll need to come in to the shop, because it’s simply not available any where else! We’ll happily brew it for you by the cup or you can purchase a pound to take home and enjoy. Hurry, though. We won’t have it around for long.
