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El Salvador Coffee Varieties and Flavor Profile Introduction

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) FrontStreet Coffee's El Salvador Olive Tree Estate Coffee Introduction El Salvador is known as the Land of Volcanoes, where volcanic soil has created excellent coffee trees and forged a interdependent relationship between Salvadorans and coffee. Geographically, El Salvador is located between Honduras and Guatemala, with its southern side facing

FrontStreet Coffee's El Salvador Olive Tree Estate Coffee Introduction

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

El Salvador is known as the "Land of Volcanoes," where volcanic soil has cultivated high-quality coffee trees and created a interdependent relationship between Salvadorans and coffee. Geographically, El Salvador is located between Honduras and Guatemala, with the Pacific Ocean to the south. The terrain is primarily mountainous and highland, with volcanic zones rich in minerals. Additionally, El Salvador's coffee farms mostly use shade cultivation methods.

El Salvador Coffee Varieties

The Pacamara variety was first cultivated in 1958 by researchers in El Salvador. Pacamara is an exceptional variety resulting from artificial selection, surpassing its parent plants in quality. It perfectly inherits the advantages of its parent varieties, combining the excellent taste of Pacas with the large bean size of Maragogipe. The beans are at least 70-80% the size of elephant beans, with 100% measuring 17 screen or above and 90% measuring 18 screen or above. The average bean length is 1.03 cm (compared to 0.8-0.85 cm for typical beans), average width is 0.71 cm (compared to 0.6-0.65 cm for typical beans), with a thickness of 0.37 cm, giving them a full, rounded shape. The most distinctive feature of this variety is its lively and sophisticated acidity, sometimes exhibiting biscuit aromas, sometimes fruity flavors, with excellent body and mouthfeel. The best quality comes from El Salvador and Guatemala.

Pacamara beans are long, full, and rounded, averaging 1.03 cm in length. Although smaller than elephant beans, they are larger than typical coffee beans. Most Pacamara selections use beans measuring 18 screen or above. Pacamara is an exceptional variety from artificial selection, with production reaching 3.225 million bags (60 kg per bag), but current production has significantly declined.

FrontStreet Coffee's El Salvador Olive Tree Estate Coffee Introduction

Variety

Kenya SL-28 is one of the two most revered varieties produced in the 1930s by Kenya's Scott Laboratories. Although Scott Laboratories no longer exists, it is now the National Agricultural Laboratory, part of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization. Both varieties are Bourbon-derived, though from different lineages: SL-28 was developed from drought-resistant varieties originally planted in Tanganyika, which is part of modern Tanzania; it is generally considered to have the highest quality but lower yields compared to other commercial Arabica varieties.

These SL variants exhibit bronze-colored young leaves. The yield from SL28 is not as high as expected, but the copper-colored leaves and kidney-shaped beans offer wonderful sweetness, balance, and complex, varied flavors, along with distinctive citrus and plum characteristics. The coffee flavor features strong, rich fruit acidity, full body, and beautiful balance.

Flavor Profile

It has berry aroma in the fragrance, with citrus, berry, and lemon notes in the cup, followed by a subtle herbal finish. The aftertaste has nutty and cream aromas, with an overall clean and bright mouthfeel.