ROASTING WEDNESDAY, March 22nd.

This nanolot is exclusive to Paradise Coffee Roasters 

TASTING NOTES

Aromas of Grapefruit, and caramel. Citrusy acidity with notes of Meyer lemon and a cane sugar sweetness. Full-bodied, chewy mouthfeel that lingers into the finish.

YELLOW PACAMARA VARIETY

Pacamara is a large bean hybrid variety created in El Salvador from the short high yielding 'Pacas' variety and the Giant typically mutation 'Maragogype'. Known for excellent cup quality it often wins cupping competitions across Central America. But this variety always produced red fruit.

Yellow Pacamara appeared on a Red Pacamara area that was planted in 2009 on a plot named Roma. About 10 single trees yielded 3 years after planted with yellow skinned color.

After its appearance some leaves were sent to the WCR for genetic fingerprinting. This variety pedigree analysis carried out in 2017 showed this variety had Pacamara background with a new discovered allele that hasn’t been identified previously on their database, making it not only a rarity but also a topic of further research.
From those seeds Gloria started a new plot a bit higher from the original land but with
limited production as only a few hundred trees have been reproduced since 2018.

We became aware they had yellow Pacamara trees from a Facebook post. Miguel reached out to Luis Rodriguez to see if they had any of this coffee available to sell. They hadn't previously separated it from the red tree, but Luis thought there should be enough to do so for a small nano-lot. After some discussion it was settled that the coffee would be processed as a honey once the cherries were ripe.

Harvest day finally came on March 9th, 2022. They were able to collect 300lb of cherry from the Yellow Pacamara trees. from which resulted a 40lb nano-lot exclusive to Paradise.

 FINCA NEJAPA

Finca Nejapa is located on the slopes of Cerro las Ninfas, nested along the famous
Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range, in Apaneca, Department of Ahuachapán. The farm
owner, Gloria Mercedes Rodríguez Fontán, is a 4 th generation coffee grower that has
been actively involved in the development of high-quality coffees in her area. Nejapa
has been in her family since the 1920s.

Coffee is grown in an area of some 18 hectares subdivided in 7 plots grown with
different varieties, including Red and yellow pacamara, red, orange and yellow Bourbon,
yellow and red caturra, geisha, typica and elefante.

The farm has about 4 hectares of native forest distributed along the farm helping
preserve our soils, microclimate, flora and fauna. Every cultivated plot in Nejapa is fully
shaded with native trees and ingas, helping many birds, insects and mammal species
move and live without major disruptions.

Nejapa, has been previously awarded by Cup of Excellence 4 times with different plots.
Gloria’s small farms account for 13 CoE auctions prizes and 2 national winning awards.
The farm is approximately 22 hectares with an altitude ranging between 1,480 to 1,580
masl.

To the east, on the higher part of the farm, it neighbors with the Ninfas Lagoon, an
extinct volcanic crater and sanctuary for migrating birds. From here you have a view of
every peak from the mountain range finishing with the Izalco volcano, named the
“pacific lighthouse” which many years ago used to be in constant eruption and was
Gloria’s family trip at night, to enjoyed from its frequent eruptions in the distance. It
also has a beautiful view to the town of Apaneca and you can also see the Pacific Ocean
shoreline and the Acajutla port from this spot.

Other cultural practices include manual weed control, shade tree pruning, off-shot
thinning, soil conservation practices, wind-break barriers management, root and stem
bending, as well as a renewed attention to better nutrition of the plant and soil life
improvement, among others. A huge importance is obviously given to harvesting only
the ripest possible cherries, measured visually, tasting mucilage and using
refractometer.

One of the main works performed at the farm is the coffee nursery, which is done only
with seeds selected within Gloria’s farms to guarantee the purity and adaptability of our
coffee plantations in the future. There are at least 5 families involved every year in the
works performed at the farm, with some other 30 temporary staff needed for the
harvest. One of the advantages of this farm is easy access, as its only 2 ½ kilometers
away from the Apaneca town. It also gets water from the crater lagoon that makes
some works easier, such as foliar fertilization and nursery irrigation.