What are the Flavor Characteristics of Honey Processed Pacamara | How Much Does Panama Pacamara Coffee Bean Cost

Introduction to the Special Coffee Variety - Pacamara

Pacamara is a coffee variety created by crossing Maragogype (elephant beans) with other varieties. The name comes from taking the first four letters of Pacas and Maragogype. It first originated in El Salvador.

Pacamara is a giant-fruited dwarf variety derived from Arabica, developed by the El Salvador Coffee Research Center using Pacas as the male parent and crossing it with Maragogype. The leaf tips are green or bronze, and it appeared in El Salvador in the 1950s. It has a unique aroma of chocolate and citrus fruit, extremely large beans, excellent cup quality, prominent flavor, wonderful balance and floral notes. Pacamara reaches its highest cup quality at the highest possible altitudes. It is, however, susceptible to leaf rust, berry disease and nematodes, with a medium yield similar to Caturra. It is mainly produced in El Salvador. The variety is not uniform, with significant generational variation, and 10-12% of offspring will revert to Pacas.

On how Pacamara amazes people, consider what coffee experts say: Pacamara "has a full, rich and varied flavor, with both bright stone fruit acidity and rich spice sweetness. Common flavors include apricot, vanilla, mint essential oil chocolate, tropical fruits (such as mango and pineapple), citrus chocolate, and caramel spice sweetness," among other varied taste shifts.

Un Regalo de Dios - "God's Gift" Estate

(Cup of Excellence Winning Estate | Award Record: 2018, 5th Place)

Variety: Pacamara coffee beans

Grade: Strictly Hard Beans (S.H.B. EP) - selected high-altitude extremely hard beans

AA PREMIUM SPECIALTY GREEN COFFEE

Altitude: 1,800 meters above sea level

Processing Method: Honey Process; African bed natural sun-drying

Cultivation Area: 22 hectares

Cupping Report

Toffee, lemon, dried longan, coffee flowers, cedar; a honey-processed Pacamara with a sweet-and-sour aftertaste. When cooled, the sucrose aroma becomes particularly obvious, with a rich, lingering aftertaste.

Pacamara Variety Introduction

Pacamara is a rare and precious variety developed in El Salvador. Its flavor is full, rich and varied, with diverse taste shifts including apricot, vanilla plants, tropical fruits, chocolate and spice sweetness. Few coffee varieties combine bright fruit acidity with rich sweetness. Like other large-bean varieties, however, it faces relatively low yields. The Pacamara name comes from the elephant bean Maragogype and the Pacas variety, taking the first four letters of each to form the combination. The bean size is similar to elephant beans, reaching up to 22 screen, making it one of the best coffee varieties in Central and South America. The variety is rarely grown by farmers in Nicaragua and yields are low, so cupping-quality Pacamara is even more precious.

Honey Process (Honey Process / Procesado Full Miel)

After removing the skin of the coffee cherries, 100% of the mucilage layer is preserved. Unlike the fully washed method, the honey process does not use fermentation to remove the mucilage; instead, the beans are placed directly on African beds to dry while still carrying the mucilage. During drying they must be turned frequently and regularly to prevent the pulp from sticking, which could cause mold or over-fermentation, and to ensure even sun-drying. Sunlight and wind do the drying, after which the mucilage layer and parchment are removed directly. Compared with other processing methods, it demands more labor and time.

Characteristics of Honey Process

The advantage is that it preserves the original sweet flavor of the coffee fruit to the greatest degree, with honey-like sweetness and a fuller body.

Pacamara Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

The Pacamara coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee come with full guarantees in brand and quality. More importantly, the value is extremely high. A half-pound (227g) package costs only about 118 yuan. At 15g per cup, one package makes 15 cups, working out to only about 7 yuan per cup. Compared to coffee shops selling cups for dozens of yuan each, that is a genuinely conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To explore the honey-processed style that makes this Pacamara so distinctive, try FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Butterfly. It carries half Geisha blood -- a blend of Geisha, Caturra and Catuai planted in the Baru volcano area of Boquete. Abundant rainfall, a wide day-night temperature swing and volcanic rock soil, plus careful picking and processing, give it excellent body, citrus acidity and Geisha-style jasmine aroma. It works well for both pour-over and cold brew.

If you want to stay closer to the large-bean, fruit-forward character of Pacamara, choose FrontStreet Coffee's Esmeralda Diamond Mountain. It comes from a flagship brand under the Esmeralda estate, grown mainly with Caturra and Catuai on the Jaramillo and Canas Verdes farms. The volcanic soil and old-growth forest shade give the raw beans rich fruit aromas and sweetness, making it a widely loved independent brand alongside the estate's Geisha.