Viva Espresso

Overview

Viva Espresso is the San Salvador roastery-cafe founded by Federico and Lily Bolaños that produced 2011 World Barista Champion Alejandro Méndez — the first WBC winner from a coffee-producing country. The Bolaños' Salvadoran baristas swept the national championship podium for years (Lily won the inaugural 2008 competition; Daniel Méndez, Alejandro's brother and Viva's roaster, was the 2014 national champion), and William Hernández carried Viva to the WBC finals in 2014. Viva runs three locations in San Salvador (La Gran Vía, Galerías and Torre Futura) and roasts Cup of Excellence lots in small batches every day.

Known for

• Coached and roasted for 2011 World Barista Champion Alejandro Méndez — first WBC winner from a coffee-producing country
• 1st-place sweep of every Salvadoran national barista championship 2008–2011
• Roasts only Cup of Excellence Salvadoran coffees, in small daily batches
• Six brewing methods on bar: Chemex, V60, French Press, Siphon, AeroPress, espresso
• Three San Salvador locations: La Gran Vía, Galerías, Torre Futura

Why it matters

Viva Espresso is the foundational specialty operation of El Salvador. Federico Bolaños' coaching of Alejandro Méndez to the 2011 WBC — the first time a producing-country barista held that title — recalibrated what was possible for origin-country specialty programs and built a feeder pipeline (Méndez later co-founded 4 Monkeys Coffee Roasters) that defines Salvadoran specialty to this day.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

Daniel Méndez

color sorting

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roaster machine

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filter equipment

Chemex, V60, French Press, Siphon, AeroPress

cupping frequency

every batch, daily

roastery location

San Salvador, El Salvador

espresso equipment

Nuova Simonelli (championship Simonelli machine on display from Méndez's WBC win)

annual volume tonnes

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Café

This roaster operates a café.

Recognitions

• World Barista Championship 1st place — Alejandro Méndez (2011)
• World Barista Championship Finals — William Hernández (2014)
• El Salvador National Barista Championship — 1st and 2nd place every year 2008–2011

Sources

• https://sprudge.com/we-talk-to-viva-espresso-founder-and-salvadoran-cafe-pioneer-federico-bolanos-75025.html
• https://perfectdailygrind.com/2015/12/wbc-alejandro-mendez-how-to-promote-specialty-coffee-in-el-salvador/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/viva-espresso
• https://www.baristamagazine.com/barista-champion-of-el-salvador/
• https://freshcup.com/el-salvador-in-wisconsin/