El Salvador Black Honey Las Veraneras Estate

In addition to the washed (washed) and dry (natural) processing of raw coffee, there is a third processing method: so-called honey processing, also known as honey dried. There are three honey processes: White/Yellow Honey, Red Honey and Black Honey. The Black Honey processing is the most demanding. After de-pulping, the coffee beans are dried completely with the pulp attached (the sugary, sweet, yellowish mucilage (hence the name "honey" for this treatment).

The mucilage ferments for many hours and thus influences the taste of the coffee beans. It turns very dark, hence the name Black Honey. The process takes place completely in the shade on airy racks (so-called raised beds) and requires a great deal of experience and intuition. The moisture content must be measured constantly. And the farmer Jorge Cruz needs to know exactly how the duration of the fermentation in relation to the humidity affects the taste of his beans. The beans are then freed from the parchment skin along with the mucilage residues and after further sorting and sorting, green coffee is ready for the journey to Europe.

In the end, however, all the effort is richly rewarded: the black honey-dried processing on the Las Veraneras Estate produces a coffee with a unique taste: the sweet aroma of cane sugar combines with the long-lasting tangy taste of pineapple. Delicate cocoa notes round off this specially prepared coffee.