Recommended El Salvador Attes Estate Coffee Beans_What to Pay Attention to When Pour-Over Brewing Pacamara Coffee

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Salvador Ataisi Estate Pacamara Coffee

Green Bean and Roasting Information:

Grade: SHB

Varietal: Pacamara

Country of Origin: El Salvador

Coffee Estate: Finca Ataisi

Growing Altitude: 1800 meters

Flavor Notes: Walnut, floral, toffee, apricot

Processing Method: Washed

Finca Ataisi Estate Information and Story:

Finca Ataisi Estate is located in the volcanic production region of Izalco in Sonsonate Province, El Salvador. Due to volcanic activity, the estate's soil contains very rich organic matter. The average altitude of the estate is approximately 1,800 meters with steep terrain, making it one of the highest altitude estates in the area. Currently, the estate is operated by owner Mr. Rene Martin, whose philosophy is to maintain El Salvador's original traditional cultivation methods as much as possible. Except for necessary pruning and irrigation, the estate maintains large areas of natural agroforestry ecology, with over 90% of the estate planted with Pacamara varieties.

In addition to excellent cultivation, Finca Ataisi Estate also has its own coffee washing processing facilities. This not only avoids price exploitation from outsourcing processing but, more importantly, allows for more rigorous handling of carefully selected harvested coffee cherries. Mr. Rene Martin is very strict about the washing process, regularly recording daily temperature and humidity while paying close attention to the processing of green coffee beans in the fermentation tanks.

In 2004, coffee farmers from El Salvador and Honduras successively achieved good results in COE competitions with Pacamara. In 2005, Pacamara took 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th places in El Salvador's COE. In 2006, it swept the top four positions. From 2008, estates began participating in competitions with Pacamara, winning the COE championship for three consecutive years, and also winning two consecutive championships in 2012-13. In the 2016 "Best of El Salvador 2016" competition, 11 out of the top 16 entries were Pacamara, and even more impressively, Pacamara swept the top eight positions. Pacamara gained great fame, rivaling the sought-after Geisha variety of the time.

Pacamara Coffee Bean Variety Introduction:

Pacamara, a new hybrid born in El Salvador in 1958, was created by crossing the Bourbon-derived Pacas with the Typica-derived Maragogype. It combines the advantages of both varieties while surpassing them! Pure and gentle, rich and smooth, with lively acidity, full flavors, and a long, impressive aftertaste. Pacamara was artificially cultivated in El Salvador in 1958 as a hybrid variety, with Pacas and Maragogype as parents. It has both the excellent taste of Pacas and inherits the large size of Maragogipe beans. The beans are at least 70-80% the size of Maragogype, with 100% reaching 17 screen size or above and 90% reaching 18 screen size or above. The average bean length is 1.03 cm (compared to 0.8-0.85 cm for regular beans), average width is 0.71 cm (compared to 0.6-0.65 cm for regular beans), with a thickness of 0.37 cm, resulting in full, round beans. The name Pacamara is formed by combining the first four letters of its "parents": Paca + mara = Pacamara.

In the 2005 El Salvador COE, Pacamara amazed everyone. Among the top ten, the Pacamara variety notably took 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th places!

In 2007, the Pacamara variety won double championships in both Guatemala and El Salvador COE competitions. From then on, Pacamara became unstoppable on the award-winning path, consistently occupying top positions in major competitions and internationally recognized as a rising star variety comparable to Geisha.

Just in Guatemala's COE alone, Pacamara sat on the championship throne for 7 out of 10 years between 2008-2017.

Due to Pacamara's extraordinary performance in competitions, in 2017, the BOP (Best of Panama) international competition committee decided to make Pacamara a separate category for competition.

However, despite such a successful variety, it still has disadvantages: Pacamara has higher requirements for soil, climate, environment, and altitude, plus low yield and low resistance to leaf rust disease, resulting in low planting popularity.

Today, although Pacamara is no longer particularly rare, it's still not a very common bean in the market. Especially, Pacamara from Guatemala and El Salvador is considered superior, with many international pursuers, making it even more difficult to obtain domestically.

Processing Method Introduction:

Washed Process

In response to the drawbacks of traditional dry processing, the washed method was developed. First, harvested fruits are passed through a depulping machine to separate most of the pulp from the coffee beans, then guided to a clean water tank for soaking and fermentation to completely remove the remaining pulp layer. After fermentation is complete, they are dried either by sun exposure or using machines to reduce moisture content to 12%. Since the washed method removes the pulp first, there's no need to worry about mold or insect infestation during the drying process, unlike with dry processing.

(↑ Depulping machine removing pulp) (↑ Soaking in water for fermentation) (↑ Spread flat for drying)

Natural-processed coffee has rich and full flavors with very distinct and diverse layers, while washed coffee has very clean and refreshing taste with distinct fruit acidity. Different processing methods give coffee beans unique aromas.

Roasting Suggestions/Analysis:

This coffee variety is the giant bean Pacamara, with relatively large particles and high density. New season beans themselves have higher moisture content. During roasting, heat absorption is relatively slow, while the Maillard reaction process is relatively fast. The yellowing point occurs around 5 minutes. For the first roast, you can try a slightly higher drop temperature, for example, 200°C drop-in temperature, with relatively high heat settings, then gradually reduce heat as needed during roasting: reduce heat when beans enter the yellowing point to prolong dehydration time, allowing the giant beans to fully dehydrate; from completion of dehydration to first crack, you can appropriately maintain medium heat or slightly increase it to accelerate Maillard reaction time and ensure pressure before first crack; before first crack signs, appropriately reduce heat to avoid bean surface scorching. With this operating method, the coffee's dehydration time is relatively extended, with temperature increase speed of 6-8 degrees every thirty seconds, but it can still maintain entering first crack between 8.5 to 9.5 minutes, preserving more floral and fruity aromas while retaining clean and bright acidity. It's generally recommended to drop beans between dense first crack and the end of first crack, around medium roast.

Cupping Flavor Description:

Flavor Notes: Walnut, floral, toffee, apricot

Brewing Analysis:

Today, FrontStreet Coffee introduces common hand-brewing methods for Pacamara coffee: V60 three-stage pour method.

Stage extraction, dividing all brewing water into three stages for injection.

Suitable for light roast, medium-light, and medium roast coffee beans.

Using V60 dripper.

Increasing bloom time or number of water interruptions can enhance the richness of coffee taste.

Three-Stage Pour Extraction Method

Advantages: More layered than single pour, can clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back flavor notes of coffee. The method is to increase water injection amount each time after bloom, usually injecting water when the coffee liquid is about to drop to the powder layer surface, using small, medium, and large water flows for three-stage extraction.

Disadvantages: Has higher requirements for water flow rate and volume.

FrontStreet Coffee's Pacamara Hand-brewing Parameter Suggestions:

Using V60 dripper for brewing can enhance the layered flavor of hand-brewed coffee, making it richer and cleaner; perfectly expressing the bright and uplifting aroma of the Pacamara variety.

15g powder, water temperature 89-90°C, grind BG 5R (Chinese standard 20-mesh screen passing rate 64%), water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15-16.

Method: 27g water bloom, bloom time 30s. The hot water in the pour-over kettle draws circles clockwise with the filter cup center as the focal point. Start timing when brewing begins, inject water to 27g, then stop injection and wait 30 seconds for the first water injection.

For the first injection, draw circles like before, but the speed can be slightly slower. When reaching the outer circle, speed up a bit. Stop water flow at around 1:15 seconds. When the liquid level drops by 1/3, inject water again. The second injection concentrates on the center, avoiding water flow hitting the connection between coffee powder and filter paper to prevent channeling effects. End extraction around 2:05 seconds. The tail section can be discarded (the longer the time, the more astringency and rough taste will increase).

Stages: 30-125-230g

Important Notice :

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