It has been a little while since we've had a coffee from El Salvador so we are really excited to have discovered this one which is an incredibly tasty everyday coffee.

Los Chelazos takes its name from the people of Chalatenango, a northern district of El Salvador that borders Honduras. The people of this region are known for having lighter skin and blue or green eyes — a rarity in El Salvador — and are affectionately referred to as Chelitos, which is where the name comes from.

The coffee itself is a blend from two cantons — Citalá and La Palma — both sitting within the Montecristo Trifinio, a tri-border national park shared between El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and a designated biosphere reserve of remarkable biodiversity.

Behind it are around 25 smallholder producers who have been working with importer Caravela since 2012 - this particular lot is made up of coffee from 10 contributing producers.

Caravela opened a buying station and cupping lab in La Palma in 2015 and have built long-standing relationships with the growers here harvest after harvest. The farms range from 2 to 10 hectares and share similar growing conditions — rich soils and altitudes between 1200 and 1800 metres — which makes for a very consistent and characterful cup.

This coffee works well black and also with milk.

Suitable for / Cafetière, Espresso, Whole Bean

Notes / Honeycomb, Orange, White Chocolate

Producer / 10 contributing producers

Region / Chalatenango

Altitude / 1200–1800 MASL

Variety / Pacas, Geisha

Process / Washed & Honey

Importer / Caravela