Description
A blast from the past! A great year for Cerro Las Ranas. Years ago we found this coffee and fell in love, it was really cutting edge with its honey processing, an early adapter on what is now one of coffees hottest trends.
Cerro Las Ranas (the Hill of Frogs) coffee is named after the farm’s lagoon that is populated by thousands of frogs located in Apaneca within the department of Ahuachapan, El Salvador.
The coffee is produced by JASAL, a family owned operation where Jose Antonio Salaverria and his sons take great pride in their meticulous attention to detail, from year-round farm management to quality control in the cupping lab, and everything in between. In the pulped natural process (also called a honey process), Jose pulps perfectly ripened cherries and then dries the coffee beans, still covered in mucilage, on clay patios while constantly turning the beans to ensure even drying. This process provides a more consistent product than a full natural while still bringing some of the great attributes of a natural processed to the cup profile.
Tasting Notes: A lovely slightly-exotic daily drinker. Light to medium roasts are preferred with our favorite roast being right in the middle of the cracks. Lighter roasts have a hint of floral/citric acidity with just a touch of sweet and delicate red fruit coming from the honey processing. A bit on the nutty/chocolaty side for its balance, starts as a dry nutty at very light roasts, turns more chocolaty as the roast gets darker.
A little front loaded with the more acidic and fruity tones at traditional light roasts. Medium roasts have better balance between light an dark tones cutting out some acidity; smooth, rich, sweet edged. Dark roast loses the more exotic acidity and fruity edge but turns very thick, nutty, semi-sweet chocolaty with smoky accents.
Roasting Notes: A little higher chaff and a bit uneven roasting compared to a nice fully washed coffee. Nothing too challenging. We would recommend avoiding both super light and super dark roasts, they will either put a sour edge to the cup or a bitter edge. Light to medium roasting with this cup is where it will shine assuming you like a crisper cup. Close but not touching 2nd crack is ideal for smoothness and body.
Variety: Bourbon, Pacamara, Sarchimor, Pacas, Catuai, and Caturra
Elevation: 1450 – 1780 masl
Mark Copper (verified owner) –
+1 for medium roast (~25% development around 400 deg F). Fruit pronounced w/o overbearing; nice complement to nutty tone.
58yeoman (verified owner) –
We roasted as prescribed; not dark or light; kept it medium. Not bad but smokey and a bit bitter. No real complaints but just wasn’t anything special. Will not buy again but if we did I think I might lean more towards a lighter roast.
Andrew (verified owner) –
This a great balanced coffee that can work for any brew method I’d say. Right now I like roasting if for espresso as it has a nice fruity sweetness without being overly acidic. A great coffee for someone looking for the sweetness of a natural without being over the top sweet or funky.
Dustin shaw (verified owner) –
I roasted this on my bemore 1600. I took it out 35 to 40 seconds after first crack. And right away the first note I pick up on is almost a subtle mandarin orange note that comes through in the acidity. And it finishes in a baker’s chocolate and toffee and almost picked up on a slight blueberry note right on the very finish.light to medium body.I would love to see how this turns out as cold brew
Patrick (verified owner) –
An easy drinking cup, but was not overly impressed. Tried this at City, City+, and Full City, and it was pleasant enough, but didn’t excite me to order more
Tony –
I would waste a wish on this bean..if only i could get it again. Flawless bean
Ryan Pangle –
Kind of a finicky bean to get right in terms of roasting. Even grinding was weird. Almost as if the bean was super brittle. Regular drip grind, almost like dust. Any more coarse and it poured from the carafe like tea. Not a horrible cup but also nothing I’d write home about either. It won’t go to waste but I won’t be ordering this one again.
citiliftdriver (verified owner) –
Oh mama, roasts as advertised in my Behmore 2000 AD. Like it fruity? Hit cool at sign of first crack start. More mellow, go to end of first crack. Want chocolate, add another minute. Getting so I want to do a dark roast which I am not fond of nust to see how that ends up.Bought 20 pounds last month , wife said I better get another 20 ,so I did. Reccomended it on Homeroasters.