Don Jaime Honey El Salvador Wholesale Customers

A charming and deliciously moreish honey processed coffee from an award-winning farm. Silky smooth, supremely balanced with notes of milk chocolate, roasted nut and zesty orange citrus.

Producer: Jaime Guevara

Region: La Palma, Municipality of Chalatenango , Alotepec-Metapán

Farm: Finca don Jaime

Cultivar: Pacas

Process: Honey

Altitude: 1650m asl

The high-altitude Chalatenango district of Alotepec-Metapán in El Salvador is known for producing some of the country's most exceptional, often award-winning coffees. We first met Jaime Guevara seven years ago because his farm, Finca Don Jaime, had won a local quality award. Since then, Jaime’s coffee has been consistently delicious and approachable, representing a classic view of El Salvadorean coffee so well.

The farm is focused very much on quality and Jamie has continued to win awards for his coffee since we started working together. Everything is dried on raised drying beds, more typical of those found in East Africa, to better control the drying phase after fermentation of his coffee. These beds improve control over traditional El Salvadorean concrete patio method, and to help move Jaime’s coffee quality further Artisan Roast have funded the building of a shading system for these beds. This helps the coffee to be cured at lower temperatures, retaining sweetness and improving quality.

Of the farms four cultivars, this selection is a Pacamara honey processed micro-lot. Jaime’s Pacamara selections lean more to flavours of light molasses and lime citrus where the brightness of the Pacamara accentuates the zestiness more than the Pacas. This years coffee has a clarity and lightness of touch to go with the molasses notes best characterised by an iced tea like texture. Over this there are moreish flavours of dried dates, almond and black berry. Hints of white chocolate on the finish help build the sweetness along with tamarind, an all-time classic attribute of honey process coffees.

Balanced, accessible coffees like Don Jaime are ideal for experimenting with different coffee makers, each of which highlights different flavours. If you are brewing Don Jaime as an espresso here’s a starting recipe we enjoyed in the lab on a La Marzocco GS3/VST20g basket/k30 grinder:

Ratio: 1 : 2.17 ratio / 18g : 39.1g
Brew time: 27 - 29 seconds
Brew Temperature: 93.4°C
TDS: 9.20%
Extraction: 21.05%

If you’re not sure about ratios this means ‘dry coffee weight: brewed coffee weight’. Weight is a more consistent way of measuring than volume and we always recommend using an inexpensive set of digital scales that have 0.1g resolution when brewing at home.

If you can change the temperature of your espresso machine, we’ve added notes on suggested temperature. Changing temperature can impact on the types of flavours most present as well as the intensity of the acidity in an espresso.