Coffee, or tea, or both? Cascara is the skin of the coffee cherry. When you wet-process coffee, the skin is difficult to save, and usually becomes part of the compost mix for the farm. But in Arabia and Africa, the skin of the cherry is used to make a very potent tea called Qishr (also spelled Kisher). In fact, making a tea from the dried coffee fruit pre-dates roasting the coffee seed to crush and steep in water, coffee as we know it. And even today, the price of Qishr is higher than the price of coffee in an Arabic market. Aida Batlle, who produces some of our most amazing Central American coffees (Finca Kilimanjaro, Aida's Grand Reserve), started to save and dry the coffee fruit skins from her small dry-processing experiments. Cascara is the name used in Central America for these fruit skins, and a perfect name for the tea made from them as well. If you like fruit-blend herbal teas, especially those with fruited flavors like hibiscus, rose-hips, tamarind, orange peel, mango, apple, you should like Cascara tea a lot. It makes amazing iced tea as well, and with a very moderate amount of honey can be very pleasant. The best way to make Cascara tea is in a French Press, or you can use any method you would use for preparing herbal tea. Brewing like filtered coffee does not work well. Cascara benefits from a long steep time (8 minutes), and you can make it a bit strong, then add water (or pour over ice) to taste. Traditionally, Qishr has additions of cardamom pods and sugar while brewing, and that is another interesting preparation with Cascara as well. Does it have caffeine? Yes, since all parts of the coffee plant do ...but we don't know how much, and it will certainly depend on steep time and the amount used to make each cup.

Cascara has a raisin-prune smell, clean and clearly fruited. It definitely smells like dried hibiscus flower, also used to make Jamaica, the iced sweet tea found in Mexico. As soon as you add water you can smell tamarind as well, the other popular Latin iced tea. As mentioned, the flavors of many dried fruits come out in this tea: hibiscus, tamarind, raisin, plum/prune, dried passion fruit, and mango. I feel that it benefits from a little sweetener; I have used a moderate amount of honey with good results. It's best to experiment with steep times and additives to find the combination that works best for your taste. Possibilities for the use of Cascara tea seem endless; cooking, sauces, baking, beer brewing. It's a tea. But it's coffee. It's unique.

Kilimanjaro farm is located on the highlands of the Santa Ana Volcano or Ilamatepec, 40 minutes away from the city of Santa Ana. The Batlle family purchased the farm in 1983, and are the third generation of a coffee family. Aida Batlle (the daughter) takes care of this coffee plantation which is nearly 40 years old, and located in one of the oldest coffee-growing areas in the country. She is a "hands-on" coffee grower, seen often at the farm and monitoring all the aspects of the harvest. This coffee was the 1st place winner in the first Cup of Excellence held in El Salvador, 2003. They pay the workers well, with salaries double the usual rates, but also demand very high standards in picking and processing. The neat thing about Aida is, after winning, she has decided to take the small production from this 30-hectare farm and distribute it among just a few buyers. We get very little. And we all pay a healthy price for the coffee to support the farm's improvement. It's win-win for everyone. And this coffee is worth the effort - it's a fantastic, dynamic Central American coffee. The farm is on the Santa Ana volcanic slopes, and is planted with 80% Kenya cultivar, 15% Bourbon and 5% Pacas. There are definite hints of the Kenya character in this cup. Altitude is 1450 meters (4750 feet) and there are diverse shade trees on the farm including Pepeto Peludo, Copalchí, Cypress, Avocado and Peach.

The cup has an intense dry fragrance; strong caramel sweetness, dark fruits and berry notes. The wet aromatics have an almost minty liveliness to them, with honey and butter as well. There are mature fruits in the aroma too, raisin and plum. The cup flavors are outstanding. There's a very sweet cinnamon spice in the cup at the lighter roast level, pairing well with orange tea notes. At the lighter roasts there is jasmine flower, peppermint, a crisp brightness, with fresh raspberry and currant fruits, Meyer lemon, and black tea. The fruits have a winey tonality to them. The body is medium, and pairs well with a malty-sweet roast taste at City+ roast. The finish has fresh tea with lemon and mint. The volatile aromas on the cup are just fantastic. It is the best of what really high grown Central coffees can be ...it's what many other coffees wish they could be. After you cup a lot of Centrals, you key in on the qualities that this cup has in abundance and amplitude. And Aida's Kilimanjaro coffee shows that diligence, faith and investment in a farm can really pay off.

Bourbon coffee is a classic cultivar, named for the island of Bourbon (now called Reunion) where it was originally cultivated. When we call it "classic", we mean not just the fact that it is a lower-yield than modern types like Catuai, and that it has a very dense seed that roasts well, but also the cup character. Bourbon coffees, especially those from El Salvador, are neo-typical Central American coffees. They are bright, aromatic, balanced, semisweet or bittersweet, chocolaty and have a creamy mouthfeel. Bourbons should be appreciated for more than their sturdiness, versatility (they make great espresso blend components) and the way they take a wide range of roasts. Each has unique accent notes too. This coffee is from one of the best, most prolific coffee areas in Santa Ana, grown at 1400 meters, 100% Bourbon. It's from a particular part of the farm, called Tablon Buena Vista. (Tablon means a board or plank, but refers to a block of land on the farm which is separated in harvest and post-harvest processing, an ideal way to isolate quality coffees from within the farm boundaries.

It's a versatile coffee, which works well in espresso and drip type brewing. I did a very light City roast and the cup was aromatically lemony, sweet in the cup flavors (cane sugar), zingy, bright, and mildly floral. I did a City + roast that had creamy nut tones with ripe orange underneath, and a cinnamon accent. I did a FC, and FC+, a light Vienna, and with each the cup had great character, chocolate tonality becoming more intense and bittersweet as the roast darkened, but never becoming flat, ashy or carbony. I highly recommend this lot for espresso, SO Espresso if you can extend the roast, finish slowly, tone down some of the brightness a bit in the final extraction. We love it as an espresso blend base, rather than soft Brazil coffees. It gives a classic espresso bittersweet flavor, and performs so well in the roaster.

Finca Matalapa is a classic estate coffee, long before there were mini-mills and micro-lots. It has a complete independent mill to service the farm, from the tree through wet-processing, patio drying, hulling and preparation, to loading the coffee in jute bags and packing the shipping container. The mill is filled with fantastic, classic coffee equipment painted in bold colors. And it's the passion of the owner, Vickie Ann Dalton de Diaz, and the mechanical love of the archaic on the part of her husband that keeps the mill running and the coffee tasting so wonderful! Finca Matalapa is in the Libertad area, not far from the capital of San Salvador, on a west-facing slope ranging from 1200 meters up to the ridge top at 1350 meters. It's a 4th generation coffee estate totaling 120 hectrares and was founded in the late 1800's by Fidelia Lima, great grandmother of the Vickie. She maintains 14 acres of virgin tropical forest and keeps her coffee plants shaded with over forty varieties of larger trees. The cup has the character I aspire to find in El Salvador Bourbon-type coffees, though because of the strong winds in the area they find the native Salvador Pacas varietal to fare better in this region. Pacas is a natural mutation of the Bourbon varietal. This is from a particular part of the farm called a Tablon, (which means literally a board or plank), called Tablon El Amate. The coffee has great balance and sweet accent notes. The dry fragrance has sweet nuts in the light roast, almost like praline and some soft floral notes at City+, and a syrupy caramel sweetness at FC roast. The cup is very approachable, and you can seek out some sweet orangey citrus in the wet aroma, with syrupy malt sweetness (C+ roast). The cup has a buttery body, laced with slight floral and orange blossom accents. As it cools my lighter roasts (City+) became more and more bright and dynamic. I preferred this roast level for brewed coffee; the finish is high-toned and sweet. But this coffee works with a huge range of roasts and Full City roasts produce a great bittersweet, full-bodied cup (ideal as part of an espresso blend, SO espresso or as French Press type coffee). Really balanced, classic coffees like this might have very even numerical scores across the board, and not break into 87+ scoring, but they are the kind of coffee you want to drink every morning!

Siberia is a farm with a great track record in the Cup of Excellence for their Bourbon coffees, and we offered the Bourbon lot last season. We bought it before as a 23rd place coffee in the Cup of Excellence, and it has been as high as 6th place in previous competitions. As with previous years, I was really, really impressed with a Pacamara cultivar coffee from Siberia in 2010. Some Pacamara coffees can be more herbal and oniony, not something many people want in their coffee. This lot is very sweet, floral and citrusy. This coffee is from one of the best, most prolific coffee areas in Santa Ana, grown at 1450 meters. We really didn't need more El Salvador coffee, nor another Pacamara, but it was too good to pass up!

So sweet, floral, brightly fruited. This coffee can be a little hard to roast, partly due to the large bean size. In air roasters, cut back on the batch a little. It seems to finish fast, so when you hear first crack start, pay close attention and be prepared, or you may miss your roast level target. And for that I recommend City+ roast. The dry fragrance is beautiful, sweet floral roast notes, ripe orange and red fruits, cane sugar. The wet aroma is soooo sweet: light brown sugar, caramel sauce, sweet ripe citrus, delicate flower blossom scents. I get cinnamon toast notes along with the soft floral accents. The cup has juicy red apple flavors, hibiscus floralness, like the tea called "Jamaica" (pronounced Ha-my-ka) in Latin countries. It's sweet, and the aromas persist through the sapid flavors on the palate; it has what they call "after-nose". The body is light, but suits the cup character overall. In the finish there is a root beer sweetness as the cup cools. I liked the darker roasts I did as well, with dark brown sugar flavors and a more pungent spice note. But I admit I did some of those by accident. Keep an eye on this coffee in the roaster! Note: Because of the large bean size of this coffee, I strongly recommend that you measure this out by weight, not by volume, when brewing.