El Salvador Himalaya Supersonic

ABOUT FINCA HIMALAYA

Located on soft, volcanic clay within the Apaneca Mountains of El Salvador, Finca Himalaya cultivates much of their coffee under shade grown conditions. Mauricio and his team use cypress and pine trees to provide a habitat for bees, rabbits, butterflies and a wide variety of birdlife. They use African drying beds, partly shaded from the wind, to slowly dry the coffee and ensure an even and controlled drying process. Coffee has been grown on the farm since 1875, and it has a reputation within El Salvador for being the first ‘specialty coffee farm’ in the country.

As if that reputation wasn’t enough, Finca Himalaya was also the birthplace of Project Origin’s Supernatural processing, and where we created Supersonic coffee with Mauricio back in 2014. The Supernatural process we do with Mauricio involves cherries being stacked in great thick piles to increase temperature, turned every few hours and cocooned overnight in plastic sheets. After several days, this process reverts towards a more standard practice for natural processing with thinly laid out cherries drying for several days and being turned frequently to promote clarity,
before finally heading off to the bodega, or warehouse, to rest and await dry milling. All our experiments came with the help and collaboration of Mauricio, and we now utilise supernatural processing in many countries to enhance and add variety to coffee profiles.

ABOUT MAURICIO

We first began our relationship with Mauricio after he and Project Origin founder, Saša Šestić met in 2011. Mauricio was in Brazil learning more about natural processed coffee, whilst Saša was on his first origin trip. Five months later, Saša was visiting Mauricio at his farms in El Salvador. Since then, we have worked with him on some experiments as well as classic natural and semi-washed processed coffees across a wide range of varietals and helped to connect his farms with coffee roasters across the world.
 
Mauricio operates five different farms in the regions of Ataco and Apaneca, including Cruz Gorda, Finca Himalaya, Villa Galicia and Tablon Divisadero. Each of these farms utilises the natural landscape and unique micro-climates to produce high-quality lots for specialty coffee roasters. Most of Mauricio’s coffee grows under shade, and he also has a multi-layered drying area, so coffees can be dried on the top layer in full sun or on the lower layer under shade to slow the drying time.
 
Mauricio is known for taking great care through all steps of production. Each lot from his farm is tracked by harvest date and his processing facilities are immaculate. He is driven by a desire to take good care of the local environment, using rainwater for his washed process coffee, and reusing the skin of the coffee cherries after they’re pulped to produce a delicious cascara tea from his Bourbon and Pacamara varietal, which Project Origin also source.

COFFEE PROFILE

Producer:
Mauricio Salaverria
Varietal:
Bourbon / Pacas
Process:
Natural
Altitude:
1500m ASL
Description:
Cherry, strawberry, raspberry, creamy

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