El Salvador

A small volcanic-arc origin organized into six named mountain ranges, and the country where Pacas was found and Pacamara was bred.

El Salvador lies within the Central American volcanic arc, and its coffee is grown in mineral-rich volcanic soils. Production is organized into six mountain ranges, of which Apaneca-Ilamatepec in the west is the largest, at roughly half of plantings. The Santa Ana volcano (Ilamatepec), at 2,381 m, is the country's highest volcano and lies in the Cordillera de Apaneca. Coffee is graded by altitude, and Strictly High Grown (1,200 m and above) supplies nearly all specialty lots. Bourbon and Pacas make up the bulk of plantings. Pacas is a compact Bourbon mutation discovered in El Salvador in 1949, and Pacamara is a 1958 Salvadoran cross of Pacas with the large-bean Maragogype (itself a Brazilian Typica mutation), probably bred to get larger beans. Harvest generally runs from October to March, and washed processing, once dominant, now shares the field with naturals and honeys.

History

El Salvador's coffee is grown in volcanic soils, and the country became a source of Bourbon-family varieties: Pacas emerged as a Bourbon mutation in 1949, and Pacamara was bred from Pacas and Maragogype in 1958. The civil war of the 1980s cut investment, and green coffee output fell from 175,000 tons in 1979 to 141,000 tons in 1986. Today much of the tree stock is aging, mostly 25 years or older.