Very Special
This is one of the few Pacamaras we’ve featured in our Very Special level. It’s a varietal unique to South American countries, a cross between Pacas and Maragogype, developed in El Salvador.
Pacamara is designed to be a high-yielding plant, however it is also susceptible to coffee leaf rust. Because of this, it has a reputation of being hard to grow, which is why we see less of it. When we do see it, however, it’s always a treat. Pacamara varietals always have a musky, floral fruitiness, not overly sweet or acidic but not too bitter, either. It’s a unique coffee, and we call it very special for these reasons.
Maria’s Farm
María Julia Pleitéz has a very small farm called “Finca Las Marias” in the Chalatenango region of El Salvador.
She is a long-time coffee producer and is committed to producing specialty coffee in the region. Often the several bag lots we get from Maria are here total production for the season.
She grows Pacas, Pacamara, Bourbon, and Catuai varieties here and does both traditional washed and natural processing for El Salvador.
El Salvador Microlots
Microlots from El Salvador are sourced from different groups of smallholder producers and some established estates located throughout the country.
Cafe Imports has one employee, Alberto Reyes, that lives full time in El Salvador and works directly with the small-holder producers predominantly in the Chalatenango region throughout the year offering sensory and agronomy support. The farms here are small on average (5–15 manzanas, or roughly 3.5–10.5 hectares) and many producers grow classic Salvadoran varieties such as Pacas and Pacamara as well as Bourbon.
Chalatenango
Chalatenango, the “valley of water and sand”, is El Salvador’s coolest and northern-most region. Historically, the country’s top coffees have come from western El Salvador. In 2007, though, a Chalatenango pacamara won the Cup of Excellence bringing the region and variety center stage. Cafe Imports purchased that winning coffee, and promptly went to Chalatenango to cup coffees from more producers. Since that time, they’ve placed a green buyer associate in the region to expand relationships and provide support. From year to year, they’ve become used to cupping microlots of pacamara, pacas, SL-28, and Gesha, all grown by small producers who apply rigorous harvest and a range of processing techniques. Chalatenango is both special to us, and important to specialty coffee as a whole.
