Introduction to Coffee Bean Types and Names: Characteristics of Pacamara Coffee Beans - The Giants of the Coffee World

FrontStreet Coffee - An Introduction to the Pacamara Variety

The Republic of El Salvador is a coastal country in the northern part of Central America and the most densely populated nation in the region. Its domestic economy is primarily agricultural, with coffee beans and cotton as the main products. Years of war have left it among the world's "lower-middle income countries" with slow economic development. Yet El Salvador and Guatemala together form the birthplace of Mayan culture in Central and South America.

Geographically, El Salvador sits between Honduras and Guatemala, with the Pacific Ocean to the south. The terrain is dominated by mountains and highlands, dotted with active volcanoes--hence its other name, the "Land of Volcanoes." The country has a tropical climate throughout the year, with an average annual temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. November through April is the dry season and May through October the rainy season, with mountain precipitation exceeding 1800 millimeters and coastal areas receiving around 1000 millimeters.

Pacamara was artificially bred in El Salvador in 1958 as a hybrid variety, inheriting the flavor of Pacas and the bean size of Maragogipe. In 2005, Pacamara took the top prize in the country's COE competition, winning international fame. Its parent varieties are Pacas and Maragogipe.

Coffee cultivation in El Salvador began in the late nineteenth century. It started late, but at its peak the country was once the world's fourth-largest coffee producer. The civil war from 1980 to 1992 nearly brought the industry to a standstill--and, paradoxically, that is why El Salvador has preserved so many traditional cultivation and management practices: shade trees, manual harvesting, and heirloom varieties. Salvadoran specialty coffee is concentrated in the Santa Ana volcanic region in the west and the Chalatenango region in the northwest. Its flavor inherits the mild quality of Central American coffee, with an overall character that is smooth, slightly acidic, and pleasantly sweet.

Pacamara was first bred by Salvadoran researchers in 1958 from Pacas and Maragogipe.

Pacamara is a rare excellence achieved through artificial selection: it surpasses both parents, perfectly combining Pacas's excellent flavor with Maragogipe's large bean size. Pacamara beans average 1.03 centimeters in length (ordinary beans run about 0.8-0.85 cm) and 0.71 centimeters in width (ordinary beans about 0.6-0.65 cm), with over 90% screening at 18 mesh or larger--full, round shapes all around.

Pacamara's most distinctive trait is its lively, intricate acidity--sometimes showing biscuit aromas, sometimes fruit--backed by excellent body and oiliness, with the best quality coming out of El Salvador and Guatemala.

Knowledge point: the world's coffee-growing regions are concentrated north and south of the equator, in what is known as the "Coffee Belt."

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is a natural first step for anyone getting into specialty coffee: it is Africa's largest producer and the widely recognized birthplace of coffee, with an enormous range of varieties named mostly after their regions or cooperatives. FrontStreet's washed Chelbesa (Guodingding) from the Yirgacheffe zone shows jasmine florals, lemony acidity, and berry tones, while FrontStreet's natural-processed Sidama Huakui leans into tropical fruit and fermentation aromas with flavors of berries, florals, jackfruit, melon, and honey.

Indonesia is another entry-level favorite. FrontStreet's Lindong Mandheling uses the local wet-hulled (giling basah) process, giving a cup that is more intense and silkier than Blue Mountain, with herbal and spice notes--perfect for anyone who dislikes sour coffee. For a step up, FrontStreet's PWN Golden Mandheling undergoes three rounds of manual sorting plus one machine pass, driving defect rates to a minimum for a cleaner, smoother cup with clearer woody and caramel tones.

Baristas also recommend the FrontStreet Premium Blend for anyone with a home espresso machine or moka pot: a coffee-shop-style espresso recipe combining Brazilian cream-and-nut aromas with Colombian dark chocolate bitterness, extracting with a fine golden crema and pairing beautifully with milk for a rich, silky latte.

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research establishment that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation only to let more friends fall in love with coffee, and we hold three low-discount coffee activities every month. This is because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends drink the best coffee at the lowest price, which has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years!