El Salvador Finca Peña Redonda Pacamara

El Salvador Finca Peña Redonda Pacamara

El Salvador Finca Peña Redonda Pacamara is a washed specialty coffee grown by Carlos Lemus in La Palma, in the Chalatenango region of El Salvador. It is of the Pacamara variety and grows between 1,500 and 1,550 metres. In Haimoo's roast profile the cup shows dark chocolate, lychee and toffee.

The lot is a microlot, traceable to a single farm and a single producer.

Who produces Finca Peña Redonda coffee?

Finca Peña Redonda is a four-hectare family farm run by a young producer, Carlos Mauricio Lemus Landaverde. The farm used to belong to his father, José María Lemus, and Carlos carries on with the same focus on quality.

The work has already been recognised: in 2017 Carlos placed ninth in El Salvador's Cup of Excellence competition.

Where is Finca Peña Redonda?

The farm is in La Palma in Chalatenango, El Salvador's northernmost and coolest coffee region. The coffee grows between 1,500 and 1,550 metres, and the crop is picked between December and March.

For a long time El Salvador's most admired coffees came from the west of the country. Chalatenango stepped forward in 2007, when a Pacamara grown there won the Cup of Excellence.

Farms in the area are small, on average from about 3.5 to 10.5 hectares.

What is Pacamara?

Pacamara is a variety developed in El Salvador. It is a cross between two varieties, Pacas and Maragogype, created by the country's coffee research institute ISIC. Along with Pacas it is one of El Salvador's classic varieties.

How is the coffee processed?

The coffee is washed, the most common process in El Salvador. Typically the cherries are picked ripe and pulped on the day of picking, and the beans ferment in tanks in the open air for about 12 to 24 hours.

After fermentation the fruit flesh is washed off the beans, and the coffee is dried on patios or raised beds. Drying takes up to 20 days.

What does El Salvador Finca Peña Redonda Pacamara taste like?

Finca Peña Redonda Pacamara is a bright and chocolatey coffee. The clearest flavour notes in this lot are dark chocolate, lychee and toffee.

Dark chocolate comes first in the cup and gives the coffee a clear base.

Alongside the chocolate comes the fresh fruit of lychee, which keeps the cup bright and light.

The finish carries the soft sweetness of toffee, which lingers after each sip.

Peña Redonda is for those who like chocolatey coffees but also want brightness and fruit in the cup.

How should you brew Finca Peña Redonda Pacamara?

The roaster recommends Peña Redonda Pacamara as filter coffee. It works just as well brewed by hand with a Hario V60 as in an ordinary coffee maker, and as filter coffee it shows lychee fruit and dark chocolate.

If you like an intense, light roast espresso, Peña Redonda works excellently there too.