Pacamara
A hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe developed in El Salvador, known for unusually large beans and, in well-grown lots, notable cup complexity. Lower-yielding than many commercial varieties.
In short
Pacamara is a cross between Pacas, a dwarf mutation of Bourbon, and Maragogipe, a large-beaned mutation of Typica. It was developed by the Salvadoran coffee research institute and is grown mainly in El Salvador.
The World Coffee Research catalogue rates its quality potential at high altitude as exceptional and notes that it frequently dominates El Salvador's Cup of Excellence competition. It also records the catch: the variety is not uniform, and plants are not stable from one generation to the next.
A variety that was never quite finished
Sourced
After a cross is made, breeders normally select the best plants over several generations until the offspring come true from seed. The catalogue describes Pacamara's selection as an incomplete pedigree selection. The work stopped before the variety was fixed.
The practical result is in the catalogue's summary: plants are not stable from one generation to the next. Seed saved from a Pacamara tree can produce trees that look and yield differently from their parent, some reverting towards one grandparent or the other.
The catalogue's assessment
Sourced
| Variable | Typical range | What moving it does |
|---|---|---|
| Stature | Dwarf, compact | |
| Lineage | Pacas × Maragogipe | |
| Leaf tip colour | Green or bronze | Both occur. |
| Bean size | Very large | |
| Yield potential | Low | |
| Quality potential at high altitude | Exceptional | |
| Optimal altitude | High | |
| Nutrition requirement | Medium | |
| Coffee leaf rust | Susceptible | |
| Coffee berry disease | Susceptible | |
| Nematodes | Susceptible | |
| First production | Year 3 | |
| Planting density | 5,000–6,000 plants per hectare |
As listed in the World Coffee Research catalogue, which describes its susceptibility to leaf rust as very high.
What it took from each parent
CoffeeHQ explanation
The table reads like a plan. From Pacas came the compact stature, the dense planting and the early first crop. From Maragogipe came the very large bean. The leaf tips, green or bronze, show both parents still present in the population.
What the cross did not fix is yield, which stayed low, or disease, to which it is as exposed as either parent. A farmer growing Pacamara is accepting a small, risky crop in return for the chance of an outstanding one. The competition results the catalogue mentions are what make that trade worth considering, since a winning lot can sell for far more than ordinary coffee.
Set beside its parents
Sourced
- Pacas — Same stature and planting density, with average beans, a medium yield and a rating of good where Pacamara's is exceptional.
- Maragogipe — Same very large bean on a tall tree that bears a year later; rated very good, a step below.
- Gesha — The other variety best known for competition lots. Gesha is a tall selection from Ethiopian material, not a cross.
What 'exceptional' does and does not promise
Tendency, not a guarantee
Pacamara lots are often described as complex and unusual, with a wider range of flavours reported than for most varieties. Given that the plants themselves vary, some of that range may simply be variation in what is called Pacamara. The catalogue's rating is of potential at high altitude: it describes what the variety can do when grown and processed well, not what any bag will taste like.
What to do next
- Pacas — The compact parent, and the mutation behind it.
- Maragogipe — The large-beaned parent, and why it yields so little.
- Species and varieties — Why some varieties breed true and others do not.
- Become a coffee expert — A structured programme from the plant and its processing to roasting, water and tasting.
Where Pacamara is documented in the atlas
Only countries CoffeeHQ has written an entry for, and only where a document it has read names Pacamara there. This is not a list of everywhere it is grown.
- Nicaragua. Listed among the other common varieties in the USDA attaché's 2026 report, which gives no share for it. Source: Nicaragua: Coffee Annual (NU2026-0003).
- El Salvador. Bred by the Salvadoran research institute from a cross of Pacas with Maragogipe. The catalogue says the selection was never completed, so the variety is not homogeneous and plants are not stable from one generation to the next. Source: Coffee Varieties Catalog: arabica and robusta entries, with the histories of each.
- Panama. Among the arabica varieties sampled in Panama by the same 2026 paper, which gives no planted share for any of them. Source: Phenolic Composition, Antioxidant Activity and Caffeine as Chemical Markers for Differentiating Panamanian Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora.
Parent varieties
Learn it as a course
The Coffee Expert lesson Species and varieties covers this ground in order, with exercises you can do at home.