Introduction to Common Coffee Bean Varieties - The Remarkable Characteristics of Pacamara Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee - Pacamara Coffee Variety Introduction

Pacamara is a hybrid variety artificially cultivated in El Salvador in 1958, with Pacas and Maragogipe as its parent varieties. Like Maragogipe, it has large leaves, fruits, and seeds, with many distinct, high-quality, unique flavor characteristics. It tastes of chocolate and fruit, but may also carry less desirable herbal and onion-like flavors. The fruit skin is red.

When discussing the Pacamara variety, we must first introduce Pacamara Estate. In 1984, Eduardo Francisco purchased Pacamara Estate. Eduardo's family had grown coffee in the Apaneca mountain region since his grandfather's generation - over a century in all. Eduardo wanted to take a different path from his parents and decided to cultivate the new Pacamara variety developed by El Salvador's agricultural research institutions. He found the new variety large and beautiful, capable of excellent flavor and aroma under favorable terroir.

He had found what he considered a star of tomorrow. But Pacamara beans are extremely large, and during pulping and separation at the processing plant they frequently got stuck in the machine's holes and gaps, requiring constant adjustment to process them separately. It was not until 1990, when Sociedad Cooperative Ahuasanta signed a contract with Eduardo, that the wet-processing problems were resolved. Afterward, Eduardo applied more refined cultivation, harvested fruit of consistent ripeness, and processed it with great care, finally letting Pacamara shine. It repeatedly achieved excellent results in El Salvador's Cup of Excellence (COE): 24th place in 2003, 7th in 2005, and runner-up in 2008.

Meanwhile, in 2004, other growers in El Salvador and Honduras achieved good results with Pacamara in COE competitions. In 2005 Pacamara took 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th places in El Salvador's COE, and swept the top four positions in 2006. Starting in 2008, Guatemala's Injerto Estate began entering Pacamara in competitions, winning the COE championship three consecutive years and again in 2012-2013. In the 2016 "Best of El Salvador" competition, 11 of the top 16 entries were Pacamara - and more remarkably still, Pacamara swept the top eight. Its fame skyrocketed, earning recognition alongside the sought-after Geisha variety that countries raced to cultivate.

Knowledge Point: Pacamara is a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe, developed in El Salvador in 1958.

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a dedicated coffee research establishment, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee - FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years!

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Pacamara's chocolate-and-fruit character belongs to the nut-and-cocoa flavor family, and FrontStreet Coffee has plenty to explore there. The FrontStreet Specialty Blend - led by Brazil with Colombia as support - layers almond, walnut, and other nut aromas over a milk-chocolate sweetness and a comfortable bittersweet balance, extraordinarily smooth in the cup and ideal for those who like their coffee strong.

For single origins, the FrontStreet Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon shows cream, roasted peanut, caramel cookie, and low-key acidity with a lingering sugarcane sweetness; the FrontStreet Lindong Mandheling goes darker with brown sugar, spice, herb, and black-chocolate depth from its wet-hulled, dark-roast processing; the FrontStreet Dark Cocoa Blend adds Yunnan's ripe-plum brightness to Brazil's nutty smoothness; and the FrontStreet Papua New Guinea Paradise Bird - nicknamed "little Blue Mountain" - balances toasted bread, nut sweetness, and gentle citrus acidity. All reward pour-over, French press, clever cup, moka pot, or home espresso.