Introduction to El Salvador Coffee Regions - Flavor Characteristics and Taste of Estate Coffee Beans

Although it is the smallest country in Central America, El Salvador has numerous coffee-producing regions. In recent years, some high-quality specialty coffees from El Salvador have appeared on the market, leaving a deep impression. Now, please follow FrontStreet Coffee as we explore the coffee world of El Salvador together.

The Coffee Story of El Salvador

FrontStreet Coffee's research reveals that coffee cultivation in El Salvador dates back to the mid-18th century, and its coffee industry is intricately linked to the country's development.

During the colonial period, indigo was the first agricultural product in El Salvador's history, generally obtained by processing the leaves of a plant called "Jiquilite." Indigo production dominated most of El Salvador's 18th century, but with the European Industrial Revolution promoting the synthetic dye industry, this traditional production process quickly fell out of favor.

According to relevant records, coffee was introduced to El Salvador between 1779 and 1796, with the first coffee trees planted on the land of two farmers from Ahuachapán. Although coffee had entered El Salvador in the 18th century, it wasn't until the mid-19th century that the government decided to take measures to support and promote coffee cultivation in the country. From the 1930s to 1940s, driven by credit policies favorable to coffee growers, the entire coffee industry developed strongly, with coffee accounting for over 90% of El Salvador's agricultural exports.

Starting in 1857, coffee cultivation gradually expanded throughout El Salvador's territory, beginning in Ahuachapán, then spreading to Santa Ana and Sonsonate, and later extending to western San Vicente, the Berlin mountainous area, and near Volcán Chaparrastique in San Miguel. Today, large areas of coffee plants are found throughout El Salvador and have become the main agricultural product for many local farmers.

The modernization of El Salvador's coffee cultivation began in the 1950s, stimulated by high prices. Farmers first interplanted coffee trees with other crops for shade cultivation, while also beginning to use fertilizers and appropriately increase planting density to concentrate on improving productivity. As a result, El Salvador became the world's fifth-largest coffee producer and fourth-largest coffee exporter in the mid-1970s, with harvests reaching up to 5 million quintals.

However, from the 1980s to 1990s, El Salvador experienced a civil war. Many individual farmers were pressured by guerrillas and the military, coffee sales and exports were nationalized, and farmers had to stop investing in their farms. This caused a sharp decline in El Salvador's coffee production and prices between 1997 and 2001. According to ICO data, the country's coffee production dropped by more than 34% during this period. In 2013, coffee leaf rust began to spread nationwide. Only 3% of coffee trees planted in El Salvador were rust-resistant varieties, so the 2014 harvest season's production dropped by nearly 60%.

It wasn't until 2014 that the agricultural management department, led by Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Lic. Orestes Ortéz, decided to reactivate coffee cultivation, creating a dedicated CENTA coffee department to strengthen scientific and technological support. This department has a team of 80 technical staff, guided by El Salvador coffee cultivation expert Dr. Adán Hernández, not only providing fungicides to prevent coffee tree rust problems but also cultivating new varieties with strong rust resistance for farmers, allowing coffee farmers to renovate their plantations and improve quality and yield.

El Salvador Coffee Regions and Varieties

According to statistics, El Salvador currently has over 130,000 hectares of coffee area, with about half being low-altitude coffee plantations, 33% belonging to medium-high altitude coffee, and the remaining 16% being high-altitude coffee. Among these, 85% of growers are small farmers with less than 7 hectares, with only a small portion having planting areas exceeding 7 hectares.

El Salvador has nine major coffee-producing regions: Apaneca, Apaneca Llamatepec, El Balsamo-Quetzaltepec, Cacahuatique, and Santa Ana in the southwest; Chalatenango, Chichontepec, and Metapan in the north-central region; and Tecapa-Chinameca, scattered along river valleys.

Although Typica was the first Arabica variety widely planted in El Salvador, due to the impact of leaf rust, most farms began switching to Bourbon coffee in the 19th century. By the mid-20th century, Bourbon coffee mutated to produce Pacas, which was lineage-tracked by ISIC and heavily promoted for cultivation. Today, Bourbon and its variant Pacas have become the main varieties popular in El Salvador's coffee plantations. Among these, Bourbon accounts for over 60%, while Pacas accounts for nearly a quarter of the country's coffee production.

However, compared to these two common coffee varieties, the representative that qualified for El Salvador's COE due to its high-quality flavor is the increasingly renowned Pacamara in recent years. As a large-sized coffee bean, it was hybridized and released by the Salvadoran Coffee Research Institute (ISIC) from Pacas within El Salvador and the Typica mutant Maragogype from Brazil. This variety combines the excellent taste of Pacas with the large bean size characteristic of Maragogype. In terms of flavor, it has lively and bright acidity, sometimes with biscuit notes, sometimes with juicy texture, and excellent body and mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee: El Salvador Pacamara Coffee Beans

Region: Sonsonate Izalco region
Estate: Finca Ataisi Estate
Grade: SHG
Altitude: 1800 meters
Variety: Pacamara
Processing: Washed
Flavor: Nuts, chocolate, cream, strawberry jam, passion fruit

El Salvador Coffee Flavor Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 90°C
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar granularity (80% pass-through rate on China No. 20 standard sieve)

Pour the coffee grounds into a V60 dripper, use twice the weight of the coffee grounds in water to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and let it bloom for 30 seconds. Then, use a small water stream to pour in circles from inside to outside until reaching 125g, then pause. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, continue with the same fine water stream for the third pour to 225g, until all coffee liquid has filtered through, then remove the dripper. Total time should be about 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee tasted this Pacamara coffee through pour-over extraction: The entry is very delicate and silky, with clear and gentle fruit acidity sliding across the tongue. Like all Pacamara characteristics, it's quiet and soft. The mid-section has fresh wild berry fruit acidity and hazelnut-like nutty aroma, with prominent caramel sweetness in the finish. The aftertaste is long, delicate, and sweet, with a persistent sweet afterglow.

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