El Salvador Finca Malacara “A” One Roast
El Salvador Finca Malacara “A”
Malacara is like a season in itself at James Gourmet. It’s a coffee we look forward to every year and is more than just another delivery of coffee. We have experienced the highs and lows of the harvests, the shortfalls, and years like this one. Good, if not great news, this is a top year again, which is great for everyone in the chain.
With every coffee that we receive, we know just how hard it is for producers to consistently deliver good harvests year after year, and the trials with working the land and the ever-present challenges of the environment.
Top Trumps
Farm; Malacara A
Country El Salvador
Owners: Epe Guillermo and María de Los Angeles Alvarez Prunera (Fourth generation of the Alvarez family to run Malacara)
Region Apeneca Ilamatepec Mountain range
Varietal: Red Bourbon (90%) and Typica.
Process: Washed
Roast: Light to medium Filter. Works well (forgiving) in most water.
Cup Potential:
Aromatics; Rich chocolate, red fruit, citric| Body medium-creamy| Acidity: Sweet stone fruit and citric|
When Malacara is hot, straight off the bat there is the sweetness of yellow/ green stonefruit and seductive dark chocolate, with citric acidity. On cooling, the super clean acidity sweetens and reduces. When ambient, this is the classic plummy coffee that we know so well, with soft citric complexity and a long dark chocolate finish. “Malacara A” has lots of soluble, which means this can also work in espresso.
Filter 60g per litre and up.
If you like espresso on the bright side of things, this could be for you (and me!).
Espresso: 17g in/ 45g out 28-35 seconds 93C. I tried increasing the brew temperature by 1 degree and all of the great things about this roast faded as a tart espresso. Arguably milk-based drinks were “stronger” but in no way more enjoyable.
Milk-based drinks: I found that to make this really “pop” in milk, drinking those coffees, cooler milk made so much difference in terms of what you get to taste. I like juicy espresso and ambient milk-based drinks. Many don’t. 17g-34g in 28+ seconds. 6oz Flat white; juicy & dark chocolatey/ up to 9oz super creamy, lactic caramels and milk chocolatey (in a good way, not an almost invisible one).
We are also running s Traditional Espresso roast. This isn’t super dark but is an easier espresso extraction and brews better with milk-based drinks. in milk.
We are still using a similar recipe: Milk-based drinks 17g into 34g (or 16-18g of coffee into 32-36g of espresso) 24-27 seconds
16-18g of coffee into 40-50g of espresso liquid in 27-33 seconds.
Farm info
Malacara was founded in the late 1880’s when the first coffee was planted there. Over time, the farm became the family’s home, and then it was separated and split between siblings. Today Malacara A has a great reputation across the coffee world.
The name Malacara translates to “bad face”.