Tim Wendelboe - Los Pirineos Laurina

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El Salvador — Diego Baraona Los Pirineos Laurina (Washed)

Tastes Like — 🍬 Malt • 🍮 Caramel • 🫐 Red Fruits

DETAILS

• Producer: Diego Baraona
• Farm: Los Pirineos
• Region: Tecapa-Chinameca, Usulután, El Salvador
• Varietal: Laurina (Bourbon Pointu)
• Process: Washed
• Altitude: 1,100–1,400 MASL
• Harvest: February 2025
• Size: 250g

INTRO

A rare and limited release from Diego Baraona at Los Pirineos — Laurina, also known as Bourbon Pointu, a naturally low-caffeine mutation of Bourbon that Diego produces only in small quantities. Containing around 40% less caffeine than Los Pirineos' Bourbon, the reduced caffeine content translates directly into the cup: a very sweet coffee with notably low bitterness, and a flavour profile genuinely different from anything else the farm produces. In the cup: malt, caramel, and red fruits.

THE PRODUCER

Los Pirineos sits atop the Tecapa volcano in Chinameca, Usulután — a 150-hectare farm at 1,100–1,400 MASL where Gilberto Baraona, and now his son Diego, have planted over 80 different coffee cultivars under the partial shade of native trees. Diego is a fifth-generation coffee farmer who took over the family legacy in 2020 after his father's sudden passing, and has continued to build on Gilberto's reputation for exceptional and award-winning coffees.

Laurina is a mutation of Bourbon — a short, pointy cultivar with small leaves, small cherries, and small pointed beans, often called "Bourbon Pointu" in Latin America. Its naturally lower caffeine content makes it a genuinely "natural low caffeine coffee" rather than a decaffeinated one, and because caffeine itself contributes bitterness, the reduced level translates directly into a sweeter, less bitter cup. The trees are small and produce small cherries, meaning significantly more cherries are needed per kilo and picking takes considerably longer — combined with the variety's susceptibility to leaf rust, this is likely why Diego remains hesitant to plant much more of it. What he does produce is treasured.

THE PROCESS

The Washed process at Los Pirineos involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Cherries selectively picked by hand, with unripe and damaged cherries removed before processing 🔧 Depulping — Cherries depulped before fermentation 🧪 Overnight dry fermentation — Beans dry-fermented overnight 💧 Washing — Mucilage thoroughly washed from the parchment the following morning 🌑 Shade-dried raised beds — Dried slowly on raised beds covered with shade nets, raked throughout the day for even drying and covered at night to prevent condensation. Once dry, stored in airtight GrainPro bags before milling, sorting, and vacuum packing on the farm

The combination of the Laurina's naturally low caffeine content and Los Pirineos' meticulous shade-dried processing is the defining factor — the reduced caffeine produces an inherently sweeter, less bitter cup, while the slow, carefully managed drying preserves the malty, caramel-forward character and subtle red fruit notes that make this such a genuinely different tasting experience from any other coffee on the farm.

THE CUP

A rare and distinctive washed Laurina from one of El Salvador's most storied farms — sweet malt and caramel up front, with subtle red berry notes in the background, and a notably low bitterness that sets it apart from everything else Los Pirineos produces. A small-batch curiosity well worth seeking out.

Flavour Notes

🍬 Malt 🍮 Caramel 🫐 Red Fruits