Los Pirineos Pacamara - Honey Process

Los Pirineos Pacamara - Honey Process

An intense Pacamara coffee with notes of super ripe stone fruits and cacao nibs.

250g whole coffee beans

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About this coffee

Cultivar: Pacamara

Flavour notes: Winey, stone fruits & cacao nibs

Producer: Diego Baraona
Country: El Salvador
Region: Tecapa-Chinameca, Usulutan
Process: Honey
Harvest date: February 2025

More about the cultivar

Pacamara is a crossing between Pacas and Maragogipe that can have very interesting cup profiles. It was released to farmers around El Salvador a bit early before it was a stable cultivar. It means you will get different outcomes when you plant the seeds from existing plants which means you can find really great tasting ones and some that are not so tasty. For many years our friend and coffee farmer Gilberto Baraona planted a great selection of Pacamara on his farm and he was able to get numerous top 10 placements at the El Salvador Cup of Excellence before he passed away. Fortunately his son, Diego is carrying on his legacy and continue to produce top quality Pacamara coffees.

How the coffee was produced

Picking and sorting

  • All cherries are selectively picked by hand. Unripe and damaged cherries are removed by hand from the ripe cherries before processing.

Depupling

  • Coffee cherries are first de-pulped. After de-pulping the parchment coffee, with its mucilage on, is placed on raised beds for drying where it is dried with the mucilage on.

Drying

  • The coffees we buy from Los Pirineos are all dried slowly on raised beds and most beds are covered with shade nets. During drying the coffees are raked throughout the day to ensure even drying. At night it gets covered to prevent condensation and the risk of the coffee gaining moisture in the drying process. Once the coffees are dried, they are stored in air tight grain pro bags before the they get milled and sorted on the farm. The coffees are also packed in vacuum packs on the farm before they are shipped to Norway.

How to brew

Filter

We strongly recommend using the correct measurements and brewing techniques when you brew our coffees. Use a digital scale both to measure water and coffee in order to get consistent results, and we recommend using between 60 to 70 grams of coffee per litre (1000g) of water, depending on the brewing method, water quality and coffee used.

Tim's notes

This is a sweet and distinctly fruity Pacamara from Los Pirineos. Because it was honey processed (which means the parchment coffee was dried with mucilage on,) you can clearly taste some subtle fermented flavours that reminds me of strawberries and ripe stone fruits.

These flavours are created when the mucilage slightly ferments while the coffee is drying on raised beds under shade nets.

I often find honey processed coffees to be rough in texture and finish, but this lot was so sweet and smooth with just subtle fermented notes that I could not resist buying it while I was visiting in March last year.

Making such clean honey processed coffees is probably a result of the skilful drying process they have implemented at Los Pirineos. They turn and mix the coffees constantly throughout the day during drying to ensure even drying and to prevent the coffees from being affected by uncontrolled fermentation.  

El Salvador

Los Pirineos

Los Pirineos is located on top of the Tecapa volcano in Chinameca, Usulutan in El Salvador. It is over 150 hectares in size and the altitude ranges from around 1100 – 1400 meters above sea level. Over the years, Gilberto and now Diego Baraona have planted over 80 different cultivars of coffee on the farm that grows under partial shade from native shade trees.

Read more about the farm

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