What is the Pacamara Coffee Variety? Introduction to the Flavor Characteristics and Story of El Salvador Pacamara Coffee Beans

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The "T-Rex" of Coffee Beans

When it comes to the "T-Rex" of the coffee bean world, both FrontStreet Coffee and coffee friends would unanimously agree it's Pacamara! This variety is cultivated from Maragogipe and Pacas. In FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala Pacamara, the flavor characteristics of this variety are distinctly presented, with complex and intense flavors, citrus and red berry-like juiciness, elegant and refreshing acidity, transitioning to cream-like sweetness and body in the finish. Without further ado, let's dive into today's coffee knowledge sharing and brewing tutorial!

The Coffee Growing History of the Pacas Family

Pacamara was developed by the Pacas family, which has deep historical roots with coffee dating back to the 19th century. The family's coffee venture began with Jose Rosa Pacas, who purchased land in El Salvador's Apaneca Lamatepec mountain range and planted Bourbon coffee trees, thus starting this family's coffee industry. Today, the Pacas family's fifth generation continues to operate and expand the business. The Pacas family owns a comprehensive coffee business from seed to cup (coffee farms, processing plants, export companies, roasting facilities, barista training centers, and coffee shops). They produce some of El Salvador's finest coffee, exporting it worldwide. The Pacamara mentioned in this article is a hybrid variety derived from Pacas.

How Was the Pacas Variety Discovered?

The Pacas variety was discovered in 1956 by El Salvador's Fernando Alberto Pacas, who then transplanted this variety to his San Rafael farm for cultivation. He found that this variety was completely different from other varieties.

How Was Pacamara Cultivated?

The Pacamara variety was cultivated in 1958 by El Salvador's coffee research institution ISIC, created by hybridizing Pacas and Maragogipe varieties. Pacas is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety and has been studied by scientists at the University of Florida. The Pacas plant is relatively small with narrow node spacing, developing dense foliage that helps resist harsh weather conditions such as strong winds, intense sunlight, and heavy rain. Additionally, it has strong disease resistance, adapts to various growing conditions, and yields high production.

Maragogipe, on the other hand, is a natural mutation of Typica. Maragogipe coffee trees are very tall and produce extremely large fruit seeds. Although yields are not high, the flavor performance is quite excellent. The motivation behind creating the Pacamara hybrid was to combine the advantages of both parent varieties, taking the first part of the English names of Pacas and Maragogipe. The Pacamara variety required about thirty years of scientific research and was not available for farmer cultivation until the late 1980s.

FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala El Morito as an Example

Guatemala El Morito

Country: Guatemala

Region: Nuevo Oriente

Altitude: 1550-1800M

Processing Method: Natural processing

Grade: SHB

Variety: Pacamara

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tutorial

Hario V60

Let's start by brewing with the Hario V60, our most commonly used method! The V60 dripper's ribs are curved from top to bottom and of varying lengths, providing smoother exhaust during brewing and relatively fast flow rate. Therefore, when using the V60 dripper, I recommend using segmented extraction. This not only slows down the water flow but also increases extraction efficiency, helping to reduce under-extraction caused by fast flow rates.

Parameters: Grind size BG 5R (80% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), water temperature 90°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Technique: Bloom with 27g of water for 30 seconds. Pour to 128g and wait until the water level drops to just before exposing the coffee bed, then continue pouring to 227g and stop. When the water level drops to just before exposing the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timer starts from bloom) Extraction time is 1 minute 50 seconds.

Flavor: Aromatically fresh fruity acidity. On the palate, notes of green grapes, lemon, and grapefruit acidity. Mid-palate reveals nut and biscuit aromatics, with green tea notes in the finish. The aftertaste has macadamia nut and cream sensations, with rich flavor layers.

Important Notice :

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