We met Rodolfo Ruffatti in 2018 and the first harvest we roasted from him was from 2019. His farm is located in western El Salvador, near Guatemala, and spans over 700 sq km alongside 200 sqm of wild forest. The trees grow in volcanic soil under a canopy of natural shade trees.

Arabica trees were planted throughout the country as early as the early 19th century, and at certain times, coffee exports made up to 90% of the total exports. In the 1980s, during and after the civil war, exports dropped to just 7%. El Salvador has recovered but is still considered a small yet excellent coffee producer.

In recent years, he has planted new varieties, and alongside he also experiments new and adventurous processing methods, which he shares with us. The long-term relationship and trust built between us allowed us to request the washed processing for this coffee, a process he had not tried before.

In this process, after harvesting and sorting, they are pulped and transferred with the mucilage layer into open concrete tanks for 12-24 hours. The microbes and sugars on the mucilage layer produce fermentation, which creates flavor complexity and greatly softens the coffee bean's tissue, allowing more sugars to penetrate the bean's pores. After that, the coffee is thoroughly washed and sent to dry on African raised beds.

It's an all-round coffee, bright and balanced with soft acidity, light-medium body. Will work with all brewing methods.