Los Pirineos Lot 07, El Salvador, Natural

Coffee reached El Salvador in the mid-1800s and by the early twentieth century had become the country's dominant export, shaping its economy and landscape. Production is concentrated along a chain of volcanic ranges, including Apaneca-Ilamatepec in the west, Chichontepec in the centre and Tecapa-Chinameca in the east, where young, mineral-rich volcanic soils and steep slopes create a patchwork of microclimates over short distances. The civil war of the 1980s and later market crises hit the industry hard, but the specialty era has seen El Salvador re-emerge as a source of exceptional lots, with the Cup of Excellence helping individual farms build international reputations. The country is particularly known for its old Bourbon plantings, which still make up a large share of its trees, and for homegrown varieties Pacas and Pacamara. The Tecapa-Chinameca range in Usulután, home to Los Pirineos, rises around the towns of Berlín, Alegría and Santiago de María, and its high, breezy slopes are well suited to slow cherry maturation and the extended drying that natural and honey processing demand.

At Los Pirineos, history and experimentation grow side by side. Coffee has been cultivated on the slopes of the Tecapa volcanic range for more than 134 years, and the estate is now led by Diego Baraona, continuing the work of his late father Gilberto—one of El Salvador's most decorated producers.

The family maintains the country's largest private coffee seed bank, with more than 80 varieties preserved across the farm. Lot 07 focuses on one of its oldest foundations: high-grown Bourbon. Fully ripe cherries are selected at 20–22° Brix, floated for density and dried whole on raised beds for 20 to 25 days. The farm's drying area sits between two peaks, where a near-constant breeze moves through the beds and helps the fruit dry slowly without overheating. This natural lot brings the farm's heritage variety together with one of its most distinctive natural advantages—a landscape built for careful drying.