Coffee Bean Varieties and Characteristics: Pacamara's Robust Body and Delicate Flavor

FrontStreet Coffee - Pacamara Variety Introduction

One of the most famous varieties in El Salvador is the natural hybrid discovered there, Pacamara. It is a cross of Pacas and Maragogype, also known as Elephant Bean, and it inherits the large stature of Elephant Bean. Salvadoran coffee is known for its gentle acidity, clean taste, sweetness and high body, and whether drunk on its own or blended it is considered excellent coffee.

The wet aroma has obvious floral notes and a gentle acidity. On the first sip there is a cool, refreshing sensation like a sour plum drink on a hot day, with flavors of lemon and orange peel. In the mouth the thickness of the coffee is easy to feel. Like many Central and South American beans, it finishes with a distinct cocoa flavor, and after swallowing the sweetness is clear and lingers a long time.

Pacamara was cultivated in El Salvador in the late 1950s as a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogype, and it is highly sought after today. Like Maragogype, it is large, usually twice the size of standard Bourbon beans, but its yield is only average. Pacamara's quality is widely praised for its clean acidity, refreshing floral notes and its advantage when grown at higher altitudes.

Pacamara is a unique and widely studied variety originating from El Salvador. It is the result of nearly 30 years of research and development by the Salvadoran Coffee Research Institute (ISIC), beginning in 1958. Although the variety accounts for only 0.22% of El Salvador's total coffee cultivation, its quality has been recognized by numerous specialty coffee roasters.

Pacamara is a natural hybrid of Pacas and Maragogype, both of which descend from Bourbon and Typica. Pacas comes from Bourbon and was discovered by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana volcano region of El Salvador, taking their family name. Elephant Bean is a variant of Typica, first found in the Bahia mountain region of Brazil. Pacamara's large bean size comes from its Elephant Bean genes.

Worth noting: roasting is the process of driving Maillard and caramelization reactions inside the green bean, which is what produces the more complex flavors in the cup.

About FrontStreet Coffee

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Pacamara makes a good case for how much the variety matters: a clean acidity, a delicate floral aroma and a thick body are the kind of traits a roaster can build a blend around, and the same logic applies to FrontStreet Coffee's espresso lineup. FrontStreet offers five blends, each with a different job, and all of them ship within five days of roasting so the flavors arrive intact.

FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend suits homes, offices and small specialty cafes. It combines washed Colombian coffee with pulped natural Brazilian coffee, giving nut, dark chocolate and caramel flavors and a comfortable sweet-bitter edge; with milk it makes a smooth latte with stable latte art and a rich roasted aroma, and it pours a clean Dirty with a well-defined layer. FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend is built for cafes of every kind, pairing typical Brazilian and Colombian beans with a small amount of Robusta to add complexity, with toasted bread, almond and walnut notes, good crema flow, low acidity and a full body at a price that makes it the sensible choice for a shop.

The Dark Cocoa Blend, widely recommended by baristas, works for cafes, bakeries, beverage shops and home machines alike, combining washed Yunnan small-bean coffee with pulped natural Brazilian coffee for a nutty, mature plum acidity and aromas of creamy chocolate and cocoa cookie, with a balanced taste and a golden crema. The Classic Blend is aimed at newcomers, latte-art learners and premium-positioned cafes: it is a medium-dark espresso recipe drawn from three origins, inspired by the old Mamba combination of Mandheling and Brazil, with a little Robusta added for aroma, body and strength, so beginners can pull a golden-crema espresso at home. Finally, the Strawberry Candy espresso blend answers the demand for an Americano or latte that is not bitter; made from three single-origin coffees, it carries rose florals alongside grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange and fruit candy in milk. Because these are espresso blends rather than a high-grown single origin, brew them at a lower temperature with a slightly coarser grind and a shorter ratio if you use them for pour-over, and let them rest so the crema settles before you judge the cup.