El Salvador
Maria Julia Pleitez

María Julia Pleitéz has a small farm called “Finca Las Marias” in the Chalatenango region. Known as “the valley of water and sand”, it’s the coolest and northern-most part of the country. We’re finding notes of bubblegum, pink grapefruit, and strawberry.

Washed process Pacamara

Flavour: bubblegum, pink grapefruit, strawberry

Body: Acidity:

Roast: omni (filter + espresso)

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.

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Pacamara coffee beans, provided by Cafe Imports and roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

1:3
dose:yield
ratio

To brew on espresso, we recommend using 20g of beans (dose) to get 60g of espresso out (yield), during 24-28 seconds.

g dose

g yield

View the how to brew espresso (single origin) guide.

1:16.7
beans:water
ratio

To brew in infusion/fed brewers (V60, Chemex) use a ratio of 1:16.7 ratio of beans:water.

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:14.3
beans:water
ratio

To brew in immersion brewers (plunger, AeroPress, Kalita, batch brewer) we recommend using a 1:14.3 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:12
beans:water
ratio

To brew as cold brew we recommend using a 1:12 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

Producer: Maria Julia Pleitez
Farm/Coop: Finca Las Marias
Country: El Salvador
Region: Las Duanas, Santa Rosa, San Ignacio, Chalatenango
Altitude: 1500m above sea level
Varietals: Pacamara
Process: washed
Harvested: March 2024
Body
Acidity
Tasting notes: Bubblegum, pink grapefruit, strawberry
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Varietals

Pacamara varietal

A cross-breed between Pacas and Maragogype, developed in El Salvador in 1958

The location

Coffee from El Salvador

El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, is colloquially referred to as the ‘Land of Volcanoes’. Renowned for producing exceptional coffees with great clarity and sweetness. The coffee industry first took off after their primary crop, indigo, declined with the invention of chemical dyes in the 19th Century.

Farm processes

Washed process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.