Mario Aguilar Grand Cru El Salvador

Blind Assessment: Deeply sweet, pungent, with a very slight roasty edge. Cedar, dark chocolate, candied walnut, dried peach, narcissus-like flowers in aroma and cup. Sweetly and roundly brisk in structure; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Chocolate dominates in the short finish, cedar in the long.

Notes: This coffee tied for the fourth-highest rating in a tasting of El Salvador coffees for Coffee Review’s August 2019 tasting report. Produced from trees of the much admired, bold-bean Pacamara variety of Arabica, a cross between the giant-beaned Maragogipe variety and Pacas, a selection of the heirloom Bourbon, by Mario Ulises Aguilar at his farm Las Piedritas. Processed by the washed or wet method, meaning the soft fruit residue was removed from the beans before drying. A prize winner in the 2019 Chalatenango Best Cup competition organized by importer Cafe Imports designed to promote quality practices among local producers. Deeper Roots is a wholesale roasting company founded in 2012 and focused on quality and sustainability. Visit www.deeperrootscoffee.com for further information.

The Bottom Line: Cedary dark chocolate and subtle walnut and peach notes make this a particularly accessible version of the great Pacamara profile.