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El Salvador Cafénor Big Honey

Size

Pacamara coffee beans are huge, and these Pacamara beans are honey-processed. Hence, big honey.

Breaking that down a bit more, in the honey process, coffee producers depulp the skin off of the coffee seed, but leave some or most of the sticky inner fruit (honey) on the bean for drying. It splits the difference between natural process (beans dried in the cherry) and washed process (all the fruit removed and washed off before drying), and when done well, honey-processed coffees can exhibit some of the best qualities of both. Fruity, but not as intense as a natural, and clean like a washed process, but often with a touch more body.

And Pacamara is a variety of arabica coffee. It’s a cross between Pacas, a more standard-size (and traditional-tasting) variety common in El Salvador, and Maragogype, the original “elephant bean” and a natural mutation found in Brazil in the 1870s. Pacamara has great flavor potential, but can be a bit tricky to roast. The beans are bigger, and often a touch less dense, and this affects the thermodynamics of roasting in a way that we’re not qualified to explain, and tbh this bio is way too long as-is.

Anywho, we like this coffee, and the folks behind it. This is our second year roasting both washed and honey-processed coffees from Cafénor in El Salvador, and we’re down with both the coffee and the ethos behind it.

Cafénor is a socially-minded private wet and dry mill that aims to produce coffee as ecologically as possible. Founded by Alejandro Valiente and operated by Alejandro and his daughter Valeria, the mill itself, where Cafénor processes coffee cherry or purchases fully-dried coffee from nearby producers and prepares it for export, is carbon-negative.

This Pacamara was grown by several farmers in Metapan, and honey-processed both on-farm and by Alejandro and the team at the Cafénor mill. Black cherry cola, a bit of green apple/lime brightness, with praline and chocolate syrup to round out the cup. Syrupy mouthfeel and sweetness as big as the beans themselves.


*** For roasting schedule, shipping, receiving & additional information, please visit out Frequently Asked Questions . And, for a primer on coffee processing, check out our Processing Basics Guide. *** 

Pictured: Alejandro Valiente, founder of Cafénor El Salvador



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