El Salvador - Finca El Salvador - Red Bourbon- Vanilla Washed

One of the first coffees Matt ever bought was from Rodolfo in 2018, on a trip to Colombia where Rodolfo was helping out producers with processing in Huila. Since then he has inherited his farm Finca El Salvador, where there are a number of very interesting projects going on. 

The farm itself is in constant improvements, working with locals, and encouraging innovation within the nature of the region. There are several varieties planted there, with new lots every year, but also holding onto old varieties also. 

This lot comes from Rodolfo's Red Bourbon trees - the variety he has the most of at the farm. This variety grows very well in El Salvador, with good yields, taste profile, and disease resistance.

The processing of this coffee is where things get interesting - Rodolfo is always experimenting with processing, and this coffee has had a unique soaking technique. After being depulped, and washed, the coffee was soaked along with a Vanilla Syrup (the cheaper kind, without real Vanilla, but rather Vanillin), which had a small fermentation and infusion with the syrup, for 24 hours, before being washed and dried. 

At the time of purchasing, we didn't realise that this lot was infused - it definitely has some great baking spice notes, but on the cupping table when we chose, we simply enjoyed it a lot - and decided to buy it. It wasn't until we received the coffee that we asked Rodolfo the exact processing. Here at Rose, we wouldn't normally buy infused coffees - as we don't like the taste mostly - but we decided to keep open and transparent with our presentations of coffees, and are sharing the details as best we can.

This is what Rodolfo had to say about it:

"It's our way on commenting on how easy it is to add artificial flavors to coffee and how we're going thru a strange period where many producers are not being honest about what they are adding, claiming to create new flavors thru fermentation when in many cases it is a hidden infusion."