Nav: Home > Coffee >

Salvadoran Coffee Bean Characteristics_Salvadoran Coffee Brand Recommendations_Salvadoran Coffee Bean Prices

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange For more coffee bean information Please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account cafe_style) Many coffee enthusiasts may not be familiar with the country of El Salvador, which is located in northern Central America. It borders Honduras to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south, Guatemala to the west and northwest, and the Pacific Gulf of Fonseca to the east. It is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Cafe Style (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Many coffee enthusiasts may not be familiar with El Salvador, a country located in northern Central America. It borders Honduras to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south, and Guatemala to the west and northwest, with the Pacific Fonseca Bay to the east. It is the smallest country in Central America by area but the most densely populated. The terrain is dominated by mountains and plateaus with many volcanoes. The Santa Ana active volcano, at 2,385 meters above sea level, is the country's highest peak. The northern region consists of the Lempa River valley, while the south features a narrow coastal plain.

Climate Characteristics

El Salvador has a tropical savanna climate. The plains have a tropical rainforest climate, while the mountainous regions have a subtropical forest climate. The average annual temperature ranges from 25-28°C. Mountainous areas receive over 1,800mm of rainfall annually, while coastal regions receive about 1,000mm. The rainy season lasts from May to October.

Coffee Production History

Don't underestimate El Salvador's coffee bean production. At its peak, it was once the world's fourth-largest coffee-producing country, but decades of civil war nearly crippled the coffee industry. Fortunately, with the cessation of conflict in recent years, the coffee industry has been revived. The only benefit the civil war brought to El Salvador was that farmers left their fields uncultivated, missing out on the popular sun-grown Catimor cultivation trend of the past two decades. This preserved ancient varieties such as Bourbon and Typica. In other words, El Salvador still uses traditional shade-grown cultivation methods, which positively enhance coffee aroma. In 2005, El Salvador's hybrid Pacamara variety made a splash at the Cup of Excellence, confusing many international cuppers who didn't know how to score it. Unexpectedly, this hybrid bean not only broke existing boundaries of coffee richness but also increased El Salvador's coffee visibility.

Specialty Coffee Regions

El Salvador's specialty coffee is concentrated in the western Santa Ana and northwestern Chalatenango volcanic rock regions. In recent years, the top ten entries in cupping competitions have almost exclusively come from these two regions, with elevations ranging from 900-1,500 meters. The main variety is Bourbon (68%), followed by Pacas (29%), while hybrid varieties such as Pacamara, Durraí, and Caturra account for only 3%.

Harvest Season

The coffee harvest season lasts from November through March of the following year. All coffee cherries are harvested by hand.

Flavor Profile

Overall, El Salvador coffee beans inherit the mild quality of Central American coffee - generally soft and lightly acidic with pleasant sweetness. They also have distinctive characteristics: a fragrant aroma with a touch of acidity that is very gentle; pure without any off-flavors, with excellent balance; an impressive smoothness reminiscent of cream chocolate; and a rich texture in the mouth that gives the coffee depth and a long-lasting aftertaste.

Grading Standards

El Salvador coffee beans are graded based on cultivation altitude, with the highest grade being SHG:

SHG: Strictly High Grown - above 1,200 meters
HG: High Grown - above 900 meters
CS: Central Standard - above 600 meters

Pacamara Introduction

The Pacamara variety is a cultivated hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe, first developed by Salvadoran researchers in 1958. Pacamara is a rare example of an excellent artificially selected variety that surpasses its parent plants. It perfectly inherits the advantages of both parent varieties - the excellent flavor profile of Pacas and the large bean size of Maragogipe. The beans are at least 70-80% the size of elephant beans, with 100% scoring above 17 screen and 90% above 18 screen. The average bean length is 1.03cm (compared to typical beans of 0.8-0.85cm), average width is 0.71cm (compared to typical beans of 0.6-0.65cm), with a thickness of 0.37cm, giving the beans a plump, rounded appearance. The most distinctive characteristic of this variety is its lively and sophisticated acidity, sometimes with biscuit notes and sometimes with fruit flavors, with excellent thickness and body. The best quality Pacamara comes from El Salvador and Guatemala.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online services at https://shop104210103.taobao.com