How Many Varieties of Coffee Beans Are There? Unimaginable! Pacamara Coffee Beans - The Plus Version

Coffee Varieties and Pacamara

There are over 500 species of coffee tree and 6,000 varieties. Of the four main coffee species in the world, only two have significant commercial value and are widely cultivated, and the beans they produce are superior in quality to those of other coffee trees.

Arabica Species

World-renowned coffees such as Blue Mountain and Mocha are almost exclusively of the Arabica species.

Appearance: Arabica beans are smaller, with an oblong front and narrow, curved cracks down the middle. The back of the bean forms a relatively smooth arc. They are consistent in size and uniform, glossy in color.

Origin: Arabica coffee is produced mainly in South American countries such as Brazil and Colombia, in Central American nations and in Caribbean countries including Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica and Mexico, as well as in Ethiopia. Well-known beans such as Brazilian Santos, Sumatra Mandheling, Yemen Mocha and Jamaican Blue Mountain all belong to the Arabica species of high-quality coffee.

Because of their excellent aroma and balanced flavor, along with a lower caffeine content (only about half that of Robusta), Arabica beans account for roughly 70% of total coffee cultivation and command relatively higher prices.

Pacamara Variety

First cultivated by researchers in El Salvador in 1958, Pacamara is an exceptional variety developed through artificial selection. It surpasses its parent varieties and perfectly inherits their advantages: it has the excellent flavor profile of the Pacas variety while also inheriting the large bean size of Maragogipe. Its beans reach at least 70-80% the size of elephant beans, with 100% reaching size 17 or above and 90% reaching size 18 or above. The average bean length is 1.03 cm (compared with 0.8-0.85 cm for ordinary beans) and the average width is 0.71 cm (compared with 0.6-0.65 cm for ordinary beans), with a thickness of 0.37 cm, giving a full, rounded bean shape.

The variety's most distinctive feature is its lively, complex acidity, sometimes with biscuit aromas and sometimes with fruity notes, along with excellent body and mouthfeel.

Pacamara beans are long and full-rounded, averaging 1.03 cm in length. Although smaller than elephant beans, they are larger than typical coffee beans, and the Pacamara generally selected is size 18 or above. Pacamara is a rare, excellent variety developed through artificial selection; production once reached 3.225 million bags (60 kg per bag), though it has declined significantly since.

Knowledge point: Pacamara grown in El Salvador and Guatemala is of the highest quality.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Large bean size is one of Pacamara's signatures, and if that is what drew you in, the same appeal can be found in Sumatran coffee. FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is the top tier of the Mandheling family. Its producer, PWN, requires screen size 18 or above and fewer than three defective beans per 300-gram sample to qualify for Grade G1, then hand-sorts three times to clear out any remaining defects, raising both cleanliness and the intensity of sweetness. The result is uniform, plump and translucent beans with a very low defect rate. Medium-dark roasted for a rich roasted aroma, the black coffee has a clean texture and a full, thick body - ideal for anyone who does not care for sour coffee.

To brew it at its best, pour-over is the method we recommend. Use water at 87-88°C, 15 g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio and a coarse-sugar grind, and pour in three stages. The first stage is a 30 ml bloom to wet all the grounds and let them degas, which sets up better extraction later. The second pours 100 ml, drawing out the golden foam and lifting the bed. The final stage is a gentle 95 ml centered pour, which boosts sweetness and brings the whole cup together into a thick body with caramel sweetness and chocolate and nut flavors.