Calmer than a Banana – Sample

While this coffee tastes awesome in every device, our favourites are an espresso machine, Aeropress & moka pot.

If you want to know more, see our brew guides for making coffee.

El Salvador, once a leading producer of coffee globally, has a rich history of coffee cultivation. In the 1850s, the country’s favourable climate and consistent harvests established it as a significant source of commercially produced coffee. However, since then, the focus has shifted from quantity to quality. Over 70% of their coffee now receives the sought-after speciality grading.

The Aguilar family has cultivated coffee in the San Salvador region for generations. Their farm covers 160 hectares on the slope of a volcano, benefiting from nutrient-rich volcanic soil and high altitudes ranging from 1,250 to 1,700 meters. This elevation slows the growth rate of the coffee cherries, allowing the beans to absorb the flavours of the cherry flesh. As a result, they produce incredibly unique flavours in the cup.

These beans are a unique Salvadoran variety of the SL Bourbon plant originating from Kenya. Before harvesting, the brix measurement of the cherries is taken to assess their sugar content, ensuring they are perfectly ripe. This ripeness is also visually identifiable by its rich purple-red colour.

Before we source and roast our coffees, they are given a quality score. To find the quality score of a coffee, the cupping process is used. The quality score determines if a coffee can be given the ‘speciality’ title. A coffee only becomes speciality grade coffee if it is given a score of 80 points or above. Take a look at coffee cupping to find out the process each coffee goes through.

We’re very happy to say that when it comes to roasting, we never ‘over roast’. The roasting process gives us the canvas to bring out the natural flavours and aromas from our coffees. If we were to roast a coffee too dark, we would be masking these naturally occurring delicious flavours and, instead, bring out more burnt and bitter flavours. Our coffees are of such a high grade; we never need to hide anything they hold within, allowing us the scope to show each coffee off to its full potential.

All of our coffees are very different from each other. Some are bursting with notes of chocolate and nut, while others hold more fruity flavours. These awesome, naturally occurring flavours are all thanks to the hard-working coffee farmers and their workers across the globe. We ensure we do them justice by roasting these coffees to show them off perfectly.

Roast Style: Medium/dark

Location: San Salvador Volcano

Varietal(s): Bourbon, Pacamara, Pacas, Marsellesa

Processing: Washed

Altitude: 1350-1700 metres above sea level

Country: El Salvador

Certification: Speciality

Producer: The Aguilar Family

Score: 83.75

What does this all mean? Check out our Jargon Buster.

Not only do our coffees taste awesome, but they do awesome things too. We pay between 30 and 150% more than ‘going rate’ for our green beans. This goes some way to thanking the coffee farmers for their hard work and amazing product. With the extra revenue, the farmers have a higher chance of a successful harvest next year. They also have more to invest in better practices throughout the farm and better living conditions.

By keeping the supply chain as short as possible, there is less to pay out of the pot. This means the farmers receive more, as they should.

So grab a bag of coffee and make a difference.

This is the perfect coffee to wind-down with, you’ll soon be calmer than a banana.