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Introduction to Colombia's Sidra Coffee Variety and Honduras' Pacas Coffee Variety

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, As the coffee industry continues to develop, coffee varieties have been cultivated through continuous transplantation, mutation, and cross-breeding, giving rise to numerous varieties. Beyond common varieties such as Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Catimor, many unique and distinctive cultivars have emerged.

With the development of the coffee industry, coffee varieties have continuously been transplanted, mutated, and crossbred, giving rise to numerous varieties. In addition to common varieties such as Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Catimor, many coffee research institutes in various countries and large corporations are now developing some rare varieties.

When it comes to popular varieties, besides Geisha, Sidra has also gained popularity in recent years. Like Typica Mejorado, Sidra originally comes from Pichincha Province in Ecuador, where Nestlé once had a coffee breeding center. This center was established to develop hybrid varieties from Ethiopian heirloom varieties, Bourbon, and other varieties. Although the center has closed, Sidra is believed to be one of Nestlé's "unreleased" varieties. According to some reports, Sidra was initially thought to be a hybrid of Typica and Bourbon, but later genetic testing by research institutions revealed that the Sidra variety is genetically similar to Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

Although genetically related to Ethiopian heirloom varieties, Sidra is better suited for cultivation and production in South America, primarily grown in Ecuador and Colombia in regions between 1650-1800 meters above sea level. Sidra offers high yields and resistance to pests and leaf rust, but is highly susceptible to coffee berry disease.

Sidra gained popularity through the World Barista Championship (WBC), where in 2019 and 2022, two competitors used Sidra coffee beans and won the championship in their respective years, bringing fame to Sidra. Currently, FrontStreet Coffee has sourced Sidra coffee beans from Finca El Diviso in Colombia, produced in the famous Huilan region. This FrontStreet Coffee Colombian Sidra undergoes double anaerobic natural processing. When brewed using V60 with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, it reveals flavors of grape, passion fruit, and citrus, with a slight fermentation sensation and a rounded mouthfeel.

Pacas Variety

There is also the Pacas variety, which is similar to Brazil's Caturra or Costa Rica's Villa Sarchi, both being natural mutations of Bourbon. Due to a single gene mutation, the plant becomes smaller, which has become an advantage of this variety. Because of its compact size, it can be planted densely together with other plants. The Pacas variety was first discovered in 1949 on a farm owned by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador (hence the name Pacas).

In 1960, the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research (ISIC) initiated a lineage selection program for Pacas (selecting individual plants over several generations). Currently, this variety is still widely cultivated in El Salvador, accounting for 25% of the country's coffee production. Later in 1974, it was introduced to Honduras by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) and is primarily grown in the Montecillos region of Honduras.