Pacas and Pacamara Coffee Beans Origin - Salvadoran Coffee Cultivation History Story and Bourbon Characteristics

Position as coffee exporting country in the world (19/20):

19th

Annual export in bags (60kg) (19/20):

Approximately 546,000

Percentage of world coffee market:

Less than 1%

Other major agricultural exports:

Sugar, corn, rice, beans

Typical varieties produced:

Bourbon, Pacas, Pacamara, Caturra, and Catuai

Main coffee producing regions:

Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range, Central Belt, Chichontepec, Cacahuatique Mountain Range, and Tecapa-Chichontepec Mountain Range

Typical harvest time:

October - March

Typically available:

From July onwards

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. It consistently produces high-quality coffee to high standards. Mercanta regularly purchases selected single varieties, such as orange/pink bourbon, red bourbon, and Pacamara, and has established strong, long-term cooperative relationships with many producers and mills in this small coffee powerhouse.

The history of coffee in El Salvador is inseparable from the development of the country itself. Coffee was introduced in the late 1880s and soon replaced indigo as the country's main export product. By the 1920s, coffee accounted for 90% of all El Salvador's exports.

This massive production was owned by a small land elite with large land holdings (by 1895, General Tomas Regalado alone owned over 6,000 hectares!) and was closely tied to the governance of El Salvador, which had both negative and positive impacts on the country's development. On one hand, these leaders of the coffee economy (and country) invested heavily in internal infrastructure, such as roads, which benefited the coffee industry; on the other hand, those without land (which was the majority of El Salvador's population) were largely ignored in the wealth created.

By the 1970s, El Salvador was the world's fourth-largest coffee producer; considering the country's size, this was quite remarkable. However, the political and economic over-reliance on coffee led to periodic struggles, which eventually led to a civil war that lasted from 1979 to 1992. This period and the consequences of the war also witnessed major land reforms and redistribution in the country, which eventually dismantled many of the country's large traditional estates. Today, about 95% of coffee producers in the country grow coffee on less than 20 hectares of land, and no one can own more than 245 hectares.

Unusual for Central America, about 60% of the coffee produced in El Salvador is bourbon, which is characterized by exceptionally clean, bright, and sweet, with rich citrus flavors. However, the country's unusually high proportion of this famous coffee variety is currently threatened by coffee leaf rust, which has had a considerable impact on the country's production, leading to a 20% decline in export revenue between 2011 and 2013.

FrontStreet Coffee's El Salvador Ura Mountain Estate coffee is of the bourbon variety, and the honey processing method increases the sweetness of this coffee. Upon entry, there are flavors of black plum, grapefruit, with a hint of citrus acidity, nutty chocolate flavors, a brown rice tea aftertaste, and a sugarcane finish, with a full-bodied texture.

It is worth noting that El Salvador is also the birthplace of the Pacas and Pacamara varieties, the latter being a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogype. Famous Pacamaras from El Salvador typically produce a larger body, with tropical fruit, syrupy texture, citrus brightness, and a distinctive yellow grapefruit aftertaste.

95% of the coffee produced in El Salvador is shade-grown, and the passion and expertise of farmers, combined with skilled picking and grinding labor, greatly contribute to the sustained high quality of the country's production. In addition, today, coffee producers are supported by the Consejo Salvadoreño Del Café, which has done extensive work in supporting and promoting Salvadoran coffee domestically and overseas, as well as providing support to domestic producers. Through their work, they tirelessly stimulate export markets for growers and maintain and improve the quality of coffee produced in El Salvador.

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