Sweet, floral, and with a velvety body— that’s El Salvador Los Pirineos Geisha from master roaster Tim Wendelboe. In the cup, you’ll find notes of milk chocolate and sweet mandarin, complemented by an elegant floral undertone. Unlike the lighter and more subtle Panamanian Geishas, this coffee feels fuller, denser, and more chocolatey, while still retaining a bright citrus character. Tim describes it as a distinct style of Geisha with a heavier body, a denser mouthfeel, and a pronounced mandarin flavor reminiscent of orange milk chocolate.
The coffee comes from the Los Pirineos farm, located in the Tecapa-Chinameca region of Usulután, and is produced by Diego Baraona. Los Pirineos is situated at the summit of the Tecapa volcano at an elevation of 1,110–1,400 meters above sea level, and its land spans approximately 150 hectares. The Baraona family has been working with coffee here for a long time—Diego’s father, Gilberto, began growing Geisha many years ago with just a few seeds, initially even in the garden of their home in San Salvador so he could personally watch over the rare trees. Today, over 80 different coffee cultivars grow on the farm, partly in the shade of the original shade trees.
A washed processing method was chosen for this Geisha. Immediately after harvesting, the coffee cherries are sorted into ripe and unripe ones; the ripe cherries are then pulped, dry-fermented overnight, and washed the next day to remove all the pulp. Finally, they are dried on raised beds in sufficient shade, and the entire drying process is carefully supervised on the farm.