El Salvador Las Mercedes Pepinal 1

Our El Salvador Las Mercedes Pepinal 1 is back just in time for fall. This returning crowd favorite captures the warmth and richness of the season with layers of bright orange marmalade, juicy plum, and aromatic nutmeg, creating a cup that feels vibrant yet wonderfully cozy. A clean, tangy aroma opens into a smooth, malty sweetness, followed by a warm, lingering finish reminiscent of autumn spices, crisp mornings, golden afternoons, and evenings by the fire. Comforting, inviting, and beautifully balanced, Pepinal 1 is the kind of coffee you’ll want to reach for as the days grow cooler.

Pepinal 1 placed 1st in the 2006 El Salvador Cup of Excellence auction with a record 94 points. In his December 2006 assessment, Ken Davids of Coffee Review gave this coffee a whopping 92 points.

Heather Perry has a unique connection to this coffee. An opportunity to teach Barista classes for IWCA (International Women's Coffee Alliance) brought her to the Las Mercedes farm in El Salvador. She was walking through the Pepinal 1 coffee trees when her then-boyfriend Ryan popped out behind the trees to propose to her. The ultimate surprise and proposal.

We at Klatch Coffee were drawn to Las Mercedes because of its great coffee, but we found what we fell in love with was the people, the process, and our shared passion for persistently striving to make coffee the best it can be. The Las Mercedes farm process begins with hand picking only ripe, mature cherries, and then carefully screening them before depulping to eliminate twigs, leaves, and other foreign material. At the wet mill, the cherries are received into ceramic tiled ditches, washed with fresh collected rainwater, and immediately fed into a pulper. These pulpers are designed to separate the bean from the flesh of the fruit while leaving each bean intact in its parchment envelope.

Instead of the usual washed process, Las Mercedes uses a “Double Washed” method for the Pepinal 1, otherwise known as the “Kenya Method”. This method moves the coffee into a special water-filled tank to soak for an additional 24 hours. The tank is then emptied, and the process is repeated, filling the tank and letting the coffee rest for an additional 18-24 hours. After the second soak, the coffee is moved to the drying patios. This process is done in Kenya and in parts of Ethiopia, but the technique varies from place to place.

Ken Davids Coffee Review - 2009 92 Points

Blind Assessment

Aroma of sweet tangerine, caramel and muted flowers. The flowers become more pronounced in the cup, saturating the very bright, fruit-floral acidity. The tangerine-like citrus carries into the cup as well, complicated by soft suggestions of black currant and stone fruit. The finish is pleasingly sweet and fruit-toned.