Humboldt Bay Coffee
El Salvador Pacamara
| Roaster Location: | Eureka, California |
| Coffee Origin: | Santa Ana growing region, western El Salvador |
| Roast Level: | Medium-Dark |
| Agtron: | 40/46 |
| Review Date: | July 2003 |
| Aroma: | 7 |
| Acidity: | 7 |
| Body: | 5 |
| Flavor: | 7 |
Blind Assessment
The moderately dark roast takes on equal billing with the green coffee here. It preserves the essential sweetness of the coffee, but pushes the acidity toward a rich, pungent citrus, a sort of roasty grapefruit, if that can be imagined. The finish is mildly but bracingly astringent.
Notes
Pacamara (also known as maragogipe and elephant beans) is a variety of the Coffea arabica species with extremely large, showy beans. A cross between the local variety pacas, itself a selection of bourbon, and the very large-beaned variety Maragogipe, pacamara has been planted widely in El Salvador over the past several decades. Surprisingly, it often produces a better cup than either of its parents, although this sample exhibits one of the weaknesses of the Maragogipe side of the family, a thin, rather lean body. Produced by the Batres farm. Humboldt Bay Coffee Company is a quality-oriented specialty roaster on the scenic north coast of California. Visit
Who Should Drink It
A nice variation on the pungent roast profile favored on California's North Coast, in this case simultaneously sweet, tart and roasty.
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This review originally appeared in the July, 2003 tasting report: Coffee Growers and the Farm-to-Consumer Shortcut
