El Salvador · west
El Salvador’s principal volcanic range, heavy with old Bourbon and the birthplace of Pacamara.
The Apaneca-Ilamatepec range in western El Salvador is the country’s most important coffee region, and it holds an unusual proportion of old Bourbon.
Most of Latin America replanted with high-yielding hybrids from the 1970s. El Salvador’s civil war halted that programme, and around two-thirds of the country’s plantings remain Bourbon.
An accident of history that turned into an asset.
Sweet and balanced: stone fruit, caramel, a soft rounded acidity and medium body. Bourbon character on volcanic soil at altitude.
Pacas — a Bourbon dwarf found on a Salvadoran farm in 1949. Pacamara — Pacas crossed with Maragogype in 1958, now grown across Central America.
Both are Salvadoran contributions to world coffee.
Salvadoran coffee farms are heavily shaded and represent a large share of the country’s remaining forest cover.
Filter or espresso at medium-light roast.
The equipment this actually requires — not a shopping list, the shortest route to doing it properly.
60° cone · spiral ribs · 1–4 cups
The most transparent cup you can brew for twenty euros, and the least forgiving. Ceramic holds heat where plastic does not — and the open bottom means your pour, not the dripper, decides the coffee.
Best for: Someone who wants to taste what a single-origin coffee is actually doing.
≈ $25 / £20 / 22 €
64 mm flat burr · filter only · single dose
64 mm flat burrs, near-zero retention and a footprint the size of a mug, built for filter and honest about not doing espresso. For pour-over it is the clearest grind you can buy at this price.
Best for: V60, Chemex, AeroPress and batch brewing, where clarity is the whole point.
≈ $345 / £275 / 300 €
0.9 L · ±1 °C hold · counterbalanced gooseneck
The best-pouring kettle sold, and the hold function matters more than the thermometer. Expensive for boiling water — but if you brew pour-over daily, it is the accessory that most improves the cup.
Best for: Daily pour-over, where flow rate is the variable you are trying to control.
≈ $195 / £165 / 180 €
