What is the Pacas variety?

Pacas is a compact Arabica variety discovered in 1949 on the Pacas family farm in El Salvador. A natural mutation of Red Bourbon, it grows as a dwarf plant, making manual harvesting easier on steep volcanic slopes, and consistently produces clean, balanced cups well regarded in specialty coffee competitions.

The Pacas variety takes its name from the Salvadoran family on whose land it was first identified in 1949, in the Santa Ana region. It is a single-gene mutation of Red Bourbon — a phenomenon also responsible for the Caturra (Brazil) and Villa Sarchi (Costa Rica) varieties. The defining trait of Pacas is its dwarf stature: plants rarely exceed 2.5 metres, compared to 3–4 metres for a standard Bourbon, allowing denser planting and more manageable harvesting on El Salvador's steep volcanic terrain.

Agronomically, Pacas outperforms Bourbon in wind resistance, a recurring challenge at altitude in El Salvador. Its yield per hectare is higher than Bourbon, though modern hybrids like Catimor still surpass it. Cherry ripening occurs typically between November and January in El Salvador, enabling selective hand-picking that maximises cup quality.

In the cup, Pacas expresses classic Bourbon characteristics: marked sweetness, medium to full body, bright but integrated acidity, with notes of caramel, hazelnut and occasional red fruit. This makes it a regular contender at Cup of Excellence competitions, where Salvadoran Pacas lots frequently place in the top rankings. A lesser-known fact: the globally coveted Pacamara variety was created by crossing Pacas with Maragogype in the 1950s by El Salvador's ISIC coffee research institute — producing a large-bean cultivar with exceptional aromatic complexity.

Today Pacas remains one of El Salvador's dominant varieties alongside Bourbon and Pacamara, cultivated primarily in the departments of Santa Ana, Ahuachapán and Sonsonate at elevations between 800 and 1,500 metres, where mineral-rich volcanic soils contribute to aromatic depth in the final cup.

Pacas vs Red Bourbon: agronomic comparison