Key takeaways
- Bourbon and Pacamara outline El Salvador’s espresso id.
- Conventional African varieties like Gesha and SL28 have gotten more and more in style.
- New high-quality varieties assist producers goal the ultra-specialty espresso market.
- Manufacturing limitations imply farmers can’t develop new varieties at scale.
Regardless of being Central America’s smallest nation, El Salvador is likely one of the area’s most vital espresso producers. The USDA predicts its 2025/26 manufacturing to extend modestly to 597,000 60kg baggage, largely pushed by beneficial climate situations, whereas labour shortages and excessive enter prices proceed to restrict development.
Even with these challenges, the nation has a world status for its iconic, distinctive high quality espresso varieties: Bourbon, Pacamara, Pacas, and Bernadina. Whereas these will at all times stay integral to Salvadoran espresso’s id, a small however rising variety of producers are planting conventional African varieties to diversify the nation’s espresso sector.
These varieties, primarily from Kenya and Ethiopia, supply distinct acidity and florality that distinction with the normal sweetness of Salvadoran espresso. Their cultivation has been a strategic transfer, permitting Salvadoran producers to focus on the ultra-specialty espresso market and differentiate themselves from rivals.
There’s a stable argument that each one espresso is inherently African in origin, though some assert it has Yemeni roots. Researchers at New York’s College at Buffalo just lately traced arabica’s origins again to Ethiopia, estimating the plant to be between 610,000 and 1,000,000 years previous – outdating Homo sapiens.
However within the case of El Salvador, and notably different Central American international locations like Panama, varieties we historically affiliate with Africa have remodeled the espresso sector.
Thinking about attending an industry-leading espresso occasion in El Salvador? Study extra about PRF El Salvador right here.
A quick historical past of espresso varieties in El Salvador
Bourbon has lengthy performed a job in El Salvador’s espresso sector. At present, it’s believed to account for some 60% of the nation’s espresso manufacturing. A pure mutation of the Typica selection, it’s a tall plant with comparatively low yields however high-quality potential.
Native to Yemen, in keeping with World Espresso Analysis, Bourbon, was launched to Bourbon Island (now La Réunion) by French missionaries within the early 1700s. By the mid-1800s, Bourbon had travelled to El Salvador, the place it tailored to the volcanic soil and temperate local weather.
Right here, the range underwent additional pure choice and intentional breeding – leading to distinctly Salvadoran coffees.
“Bourbon is likely one of the most vital varieties we develop in El Salvador, in addition to the Pacas selection, which is a pure mutation of Bourbon,” says Maria Pacas, a fifth-generation espresso producer at Café Pacas, a Cup of Excellence-winning farm in Santa Ana, western El Salvador. “My great-grandfather really found the Pacas selection.”
The story is that round 1949, the Pacas household found a pure mutation of Bourbon on one in all their farms. This mutation, which they named Pacas, was shorter in stature, permitting for denser planting and simpler harvesting. Genetic research by the Salvadoran Institute for Espresso Analysis (ISIC) confirmed that Pacas is a single-gene mutation of Bourbon.
Different iconically Salvadoran coffees are Pacamara, a espresso with large-sized beans that usually dominates Cup of Excellence (CoE) competitions, and Bernadina, additionally found by the Pacas household.
“We despatched a pattern to a genetic testing lab in Italy,” Maria explains. “The outcomes present it shares 30% of its DNA with a spread native to the Agaro area of Ethiopia. So, regardless of being found and grown primarily in El Salvador, it has African roots.”
New African varieties are launched
The Bourbon selection represents the historic and genetic basis of the Salvadoran espresso {industry}. Its preservation has outlined the nation’s status for balanced and candy cup profiles. Nonetheless, the current introduction of conventional African varieties is reshaping the nation’s espresso sector, as producers search to distinguish and bolster farm resilience.
“El Salvador will at all times be recognized for Bourbon and Pacamara, however extra producers are experimenting with new varieties,” says Diego Baraona, one other fifth-generation espresso producer on the CoE-winning Los Pirineos in Usulután, southeastern El Salvador.
SL28 is probably probably the most outstanding. Initially developed by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in Kenya throughout the Nineteen Thirties, it’s prized for its blackcurrant-like acidity and drought resistance. Salvadoran producers started planting SL28 within the early 2000s, led by pioneering farmers like Aida Battle. Past El Salvador, it additionally grows in different Central American international locations, resembling Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
“Round 2017, my father bought maintain of some SL28, Gesha, and Sudan Rume seeds. He performed some trials, and the outcomes had been promising, so we began germinating extra seeds,” Diego explains. “Harvest volumes started to extend, however every selection behaved in another way, making it a trial-and-error course of. One may want extra shade cowl, whereas the opposite requires extra windshield as a result of it’s fragile.”
The introduction of Gesha and Sudan Rume, additionally each of African origin, is much more current than SL28. However planting is steadily spreading as specialty espresso producers recognise the potential for return on funding.
“Gesha could be very outstanding right here; it’s turn into a part of high-end advertising and marketing, like with Panama,” Diego provides. “Within the western space of Santana, for instance, they develop high-quality Gesha, in addition to SL28.”
Remodeling El Salvador’s espresso advertising and marketing
With wealthy volcanic soils, ideally suited terroir, and stellar farming practices, El Salvador has established itself as a “boutique” specialty espresso origin, attracting curiosity from roasters worldwide. The introduction of latest African varieties, together with Gesha and Sudan Rume, has undoubtedly supported these efforts.
Gesha originates from the Gesha area of Ethiopia, whereas Sudan Rume is an historical landrace selection believed to have been first cultivated on South Sudan’s Boma plateau.
“We now have a analysis and experiment backyard with over 90 completely different varieties, and we promote 9 varieties commercially,” Maria explains. “As a part of our Incunables vary, which incorporates very high-quality, unique coffees, we promote Gesha, Sudan Rume, SL28, Bernadina, Moka, and an heirloom selection.”
Café Pacas will host an Incunables cupping at PRF El Salvador, happening on 26 & 27 March 2026 in San Salvador, permitting roasters and inexperienced consumers to pattern a number of the nation’s finest heaps.
Different occasions and competitions will proceed to strengthen El Salvador’s positioning as a high-end origin. Whereas Salvadoran Gesha might not command the staggering costs that its Panamanian counterpart can, it’s showing extra typically at CoE competitions. 9 Geshas had been accessible on the 2025 public sale, with two scoring over 90 factors.
“One other selection we’re rising extra of every yr is Pink Bourbon, which is more likely to be an Ethiopian landrace,” Diego says. “It’s immune to pests and ailments and is a extremely productive plant.”
Limitations to development and innovation
In time, newer varieties are more likely to additional solidify El Salvador’s status for excellence and innovation, however manufacturing limitations pose challenges.
“SL28 and Gesha are extremely popular in El Salvador now,” Maria says. “There are a lot of producers who develop these varieties, however not on a really giant scale. It’s tough, even not possible, to succeed in excessive manufacturing ranges with these coffees.
“The problem with a few of these African varieties in El Salvador is the way in which that they adapt to our climate situations in comparison with their native international locations,” she provides. “Within the case of Sudan Rume and the heirloom selection, they have an inclination to ripen very early within the harvest season, which runs from round October by March or April. We typically have late rains within the yr, which damages the cherries in the event that they ripen early, so we lose a number of the harvest.”
El Salvador can’t compete as a high-volume origin, however constant high-quality and innovation have constructed a powerful basis for the nation’s espresso sector to thrive. Occasions like PRF El Salvador will proceed to construct on this status.
“It’s turn into a necessity in specialty espresso advertising and marketing to obtain larger costs and suppose outdoors of the field,” Diego concludes. “You have to have a stability of excellent high quality quantity coffees, like 84 and 85-point Bourbons and Pacamaras, after which you’ll be able to spend money on high-end heaps that elevate your advertising and marketing and improve model consciousness.
“I just like the saying that these coffees are the desserts; Pacamaras and Bourbons are the primary dish, whereas Gesha and Pink Bourbons are the candy deal with.”
Loved this? Then learn our article on whether or not El Salvador can leverage Pacamara like Panama leveraged Gesha.
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