Las Brumas WIld Forest Pacamara Honey (125g)

Las Brumas isn’t just a farm. It’s the living legacy of three generations of the Menéndez family, stretching back to 1930 when Ernesto’s grandfather, Dr. Carlos Menéndez Castro, began cultivating coffee in El Salvador’s highlands. The tradition passed to Ernesto’s father and then, when Ernesto was just 19, he inherited his first farm. Since that day, he has devoted himself entirely to the craft of coffee.

Over the years, Ernesto honed his skills in quality control with some of El Salvador’s leading coffee companies, mastering the art of cupping and quality assurance across the production and export chain. His expertise earned him a place as a National Jury member for the Cup of Excellence in El Salvador from its very first edition in 2003 through 2011.

When he began entering Cup of Excellence with his own farms, Ernesto’s talent quickly became clear—achieving top rankings year after year, including multiple 1st place wins with Finca La Ilusión, his brother's Finca Suiza, and Las Brumas itself. His coffees have powered multiple world champions too—from Alejandro Méndez’s historic World Barista Championship win in 2011 (the first barista from an origin country to win) to my own in 2017, when I used his SL28 washed coffee from Las Brumas to take the title.

Las Brumas is a place where quality is nurtured from the ground up. The farm uses no herbicides, follows sustainable practices, and employs local community members—around 30 during the growing season and 40 during harvest. Ernesto is relentless in his pursuit of innovation, experimenting with extended fermentation and anaerobic processing, work that led to his most recent triumph: 1st place in the 2024 Cup of Excellence Experimental Coffee category.

For us, working with Neto is about more than sourcing great coffee—it’s partnering with a producer whose life’s work has shaped not only his family’s legacy, our coffee journey and success, but also the reputation of Salvadoran coffee on the world stage. 

This coffee is available in a very limited amount of(Just 9kg) so we're roasting to order on our Ikawa. As such its a lighter roast, and whilst I love it as espresso, its going to be to the brighter side, and not match everyones preferences/expectations, though I think it's incredibly vibrant and delicious this way.

It shines really well as a filter, and this is the kind of coffee that will shine in your normal brewing recipe with intensity, sweetness and clarity, but a little refinement will really push it towards bright tropical fruits, pomegranate, or more floral notes.

Espresso 20:44g 32s
Kalita Wave 24:400g 3:00s