FINCA MIRAVALLES

BRULEED SUGAR, RASPBERRY, KEY LIME

FINCA MIRAVALLES is a bright, complex coffee from husband and wife duo Luis Duarte and Maria Teresa Chacón in Apaneca, El Salvador.  This offering has a desert-like expression: a "brûléed" or caramelized sugar sweetness complimented by a raspberry and lime compote fruit character.

PRODUCER
Luis Duarte and Maria Teresa Chacón (aka "Tete") own and operate Finca Miravelles with their son Luis Jr. and Chico, the on-site manager. The farm consists of two sections that were joined shortly after Luis and Maria were married. They have been renovating the farm ever since, introducing a number of different cultivars to production including Caturra, Bourbon, Tabí, Sampacho, Castillo, and Pacamara.

VARIETY/CULTIVAR
This offering consists entirely of the Pacamara cultivar. Pacamara is a cross between Pacas and Maragogype that originated at the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research in El Salvador in the mid-20th Century. Pacamara is unique among cultivars for a couple reasons. First, Pacamara seeds ("beans") are very large in comparison to other cultivars. Second, Pacamara has a reputation for producing a more complex flavor experience than other hybrids.
 
PROCESSING PROTOCOL
This selection of Pacamara is "wet" or "washed" processed. Once the coffee is harvested it is brought to the family wet mill to be processed. The wet mill is a very sophisticated operation. The coffee cherry is introduced through a floating channel that helps separate ripe from unripe cherries. (The unripe cherries are depulped and dried separately for sale at a lower grade.) Once separated the ripe cherries are mechanically depulped. The discarded cherry skin and mucilage is repurposed as fertilizer. The dupulped coffee seeds are then passed through yet another sorting mechanism called a "criba" that filters any unripe seeds that made it through the first sorting phase. (And these unripe seeds are also processed separately to be sold at a lower grade). Once through this final sorting stage, the seeds are moved via auger out to a series of tiled open air tanks. The seeds sit in these tanks for 48 hours. While the seeds sit in these tanks the residual sugar remaining on the seeds goes through a proto-fermentation in which the sugar breaks down, making it much easier to rinse off before drying. After 48 hours, the seeds are sent down a channel and passed through a mechanical mucilage remover before being sent down to a concrete patio to dry.