Guatemala El Injerto Estate Pacamara Pandora Fatima: Grading, Pricing, Green Beans and Roasting

Guatemala La Libertad, Huehuetenango — El Injerto Pandora de Fatima

Country: Guatemala

Grade: SHB

Estate: El Injerto Estate

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: Pacamara

Batch: Competition Batch Pandora de Fatima EI07

Flavor: Chestnut, Plum, Chocolate

Pour-over El Injerto: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji Royal hand grinder, ghost-tooth burrs, setting 4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Once the water level drops halfway, pour slowly up to 225g total, discarding the tail section. Ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Guatemala Pacamara — Competition Batch Pandora de Fatima — Pacamara PI07

The World's Coffee Estates — El Injerto

There are more than 10,000 coffee estates worldwide — some producing commercial beans, some growing high-quality lots, some cultivating rare varieties. Today we introduce one of Guatemala's renowned top-tier estates: El Injerto.

Estate Introduction

El Injerto Estate sits in Guatemala's famous Huehuetenango highlands, where the Aguirre family has grown coffee since 1900. The name "Injerto" comes from a local fruit. The estate places special emphasis on ecological protection and organic cultivation, with strict quality control over green bean quality. Through the family's efforts, El Injerto has earned Rainforest Alliance certification and has been a frequent champion in international coffee competitions since 2002.

El Injerto (sometimes translated as the "Grafted Estate") is one of Guatemala's very top estates — if it claimed to be second, no one would dare claim first. Its string of world-class competition awards speaks for itself, and its owner has since elevated its status further: like Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda, El Injerto now holds global auction events, and its competition lots are spectacular. Notably, its first Mocha-variety batch in 2012 set a world record, selling at the astronomical price of $500.5 per pound — a star estate in every sense.

For its competition program, El Injerto launched the "BEST El Injerto" series, hand-picking exceptional small batches and varieties from within the estate. Experienced farmers meticulously select only ripe cherries, and cuppers then eliminate any batch failing to meet standards. Under this ruthless selection, Pacamara accounts for only about 8% of the estate's total production.

About the Pacamara Variety

Pacamara shot to worldwide fame through the Cup of Excellence (COE) in 2004, frequently taking championships over the following 2-3 years. Guatemala's El Injerto Pacamara set a green bean record of $80.2 per pound in 2008. The name is a portmanteau: a hybrid of Maragogype (the Elephant Bean) and Pacas, taking the first four letters of each to form "Pacamara." It was developed in El Salvador, and its beans are enormous — Elephant-Bean-like, around 21-22 screen size. It has been one of Central and South America's standout varieties in recent years, with every country and farm hoping to find suitable terroir for it — much as they once did for Panama's Geisha. Pacamara's hallmarks are bright fruit acidity and exceptionally pure, delicate sweetness.

Since 2006, COE has cupped Pacamara from 30 estates, and several have superstar-level flavor: Honduras's 2006 champion Santa Martha, El Salvador's 2007 third-place Cerro Negro (Black Mountain Estate), Guatemala's perennial COE champion El Injerto, and El Salvador's 2008 runner-up Pacamal Estate — all excellent representatives, though all award-winning batches, and priced accordingly.

The Pacamara plant is medium to tall, with short internodes, large corrugated dark green leaves, and new foliage in green or brown. The trunk is hard and sturdy, with thick, wide branches — more lateral branches than Typica, similar to Pacas. The cherries bear a small protrusion at the floral disc. The beans are large and oval, roughly 1.03cm long, 0.71cm wide, and 0.37cm thick; depending on altitude, Pacamara beans run about 70% the size of Maragogype. Nearly all Pacamara beans exceed screen 17, with over 90% at screen 18 or larger.

In the cup, Pacamara offers full, rich, complex flavors. Few varieties combine genuine fruit acidity with distinct sweetness, plus diverse notes of stone fruits, vanilla herbs, tropical fruits, chocolate, and sweet spices.

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee. Address: No. 10 Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou. Shelf Life: 90 days. Net Weight: 100g. Packaging: Bulk. Organic Food: No. Coffee Bean State: Roasted Beans. Contains Sugar: Sugar-Free. Origin: Guatemala. Roast Level: Medium Roast.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A washed Guatemalan Pacamara like this one rewards the V60 treatment. Hario — the Tokyo glassware maker founded in 1921 — redesigned the V60's prototype in 2004 and launched it the following year, named for its signature 60° cone angle and "V" shape. That cone, with a single large outlet, forces water toward the center and extends contact time, while leaving flow rate almost entirely in the brewer's hands — ideal for highlighting the delicate acidity and layered aromatics of varieties like Pacamara.

The V60's fast, clean extraction suits third-wave flavor ideals — floral notes, lively fruit acidity, sweetness, and tea-like finishes. Great matches include the citrus-and-berry Yirgacheffe Worka Cooperative with its green-tea huigan; the tropical-fruit-drenched Ethiopia Huakui (strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, even lychee); Panama Esmeralda Red Label Geisha with elegant jasmine, bergamot, and black tea; and the cherry-tomato Kenya from Thika at 1,550-1,750m, SL28/SL34 varieties, 72-hour double-washed fermentation, and light roast. On the darker side, a medium-dark PWN Golden Mandheling also works when you want body and chocolate over acidity.

We prefer the resin version of the Hario V60: resin effectively blocks heat loss during brewing, and in mass production it holds the tightest manufacturing tolerances — every cup, the same cone, the same extraction. For the El Injerto lot above, keep the dose at 15g, 88-89°C, and finish the total pour of 225g around the two-minute mark.