El Salvador
El Manzano

Producer Emilio Lopez Diaz runs 6 farms—all located in the western part of El Salvador. In his coffee, we find flavours of strawberry, grape and purple Hubba Bubba.

Natural process Gesha

Flavour: strawberry, grape, purple Hubba Bubba

Body: Acidity:

Roast: omni (filter + espresso)

Brace yourselves for a truly Very Special (and rare!) coffee: a natural Geisha lot from El Salvador!

VERY SPECIAL

We think this coffee is Very Special for 3 reasons:

We find it hard to come across high-quality coffees from El Salvador—this one definitely stands out! The country’s politics during the last century has been full of instability, hence affecting the agricultural economy, global exports and incentives for farmers to keep producing coffee. Plus, their mountains are generally lower in altitude than, say, Colombia or Peru, directly impacting the general flavour potential.
It’s a Geisha varietal—say no more.
It’s a natural process—a rare sight on our cupping table! We have a soft spot for the refined notes of washed methods, and we’ll only buy naturals if they present great flavours without too much craziness and over-fermented notes. This lot has been carefully executed, and the natural process is not overpowering but still gives a tonne of fruitiness. It’s delicate yet punchy.

ABOUT EL MANZANO

El Manzano is owned and run by Emilio López Díaz, who has earned a respectable spot in El Salvador’s specialty coffee scene. He is a seventh-generation coffee farmer who, sort of unexpectedly, had to change course to his life plan:

“In 2000, Emilio Lopez Diaz had a decision to make. A recent graduate of an engineering management degree at the University of Portland, Emilio could follow his original plan to open a microbrewery in his home country of El Salvador, or, he could join the family coffee business.” (Source: BeanScene)

Before graduating and while still living in Portland, he learned to roast coffee through the Roasters Guild of the Specialty Coffee Association of America and his own contacts. Upon his return to the home country, he sourced processing equipment and learnt about farm management and product marketing. Eventually, he realised there were benefits in the economies of scale, so he slowly purchased more land. Today, he runs 6 farms—all located in the western part of El Salvador.

This is a too-brief summary, but the life and process of Emilio is certainly an interesting and inspiring story worth checking out. Here are a few interviews and resources that you can visit anytime online:

Interview at Sucafina
Interview at BeanScene
Interview at Barista Magazine

ABOUT THE COFFEE

As we mentioned, this lot features the revered Geisha varietal, which has grown at 1330-1550 metres above sea level. The cherries have been harvested manually and fermented through a natural process. Finally, they’ve been dried on raised beds at the facilities in El Manzano.

ENJOY

Hope you love the coffee and appreciate all the work behind El Manzano’s farm and people. Let us know if you have any questions about its brewing!

Learn everything about this coffee:

Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

Dose: 20g ground coffee
Yield: 60g espresso
Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
Labels: recyclable
Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer: Emilio López Díaz
Farm/Coop: El Manzano
Country: El Salvador
Region: Santa Ana
Altitude: 1300-1550m above sea level
Variety: Gesha
Process: natural
Importer: Condesa Co.Lab
Body
Acidity
Tasting notes: Strawberry, grape, purple hubba bubba
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Variety

Gesha variety

An exceptionally high quality variety that has grown in popularity, Gesha is named after the town of Gesha in Ethiopia where the seeds originated.

The location

Coffee from El Salvador

El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, is colloquially referred to as the ‘Land of Volcanoes’. Renowned for producing exceptional coffees with great clarity and sweetness. The coffee industry first took off after their primary crop, indigo, declined with the invention of chemical dyes in the 19th Century.

Farm processes

Natural process

This technique leaves some flesh on the coffee cherry during processing and drying. This results in flavours which may show jammy fruit and a little winey-ness.