In 2000, our friends Sergio and Isabel Ticas began production on Finca Los Planes in the mountainous region of Chalatenango, El Salvador. Coming from Chalatenango, Sergio was not expected to produce a remarkable coffee. And yet, just six years later, Sergio collected his plaque for 2nd Place in the 2006 El Salvador Cup of Excellence competition. This award, and his remarkable coffee, helped catapult this “no-name” region of El Salvador into a star in the coffee-growing world.
We met Sergio and Isabel following their 2nd place finish. Jeff and Sergio quickly became good friends that followed a direct trade relationship for more than a decade. During that first visit, we were immensely impressed by Sergio’s use of the money from the Cup of Excellence competition to improve the beneficio on the farm, thereby improving the processing of future harvests. This showed us their commitment and dedication to quality and constant improvement.
On our first visit it was clear to us their commitment to quality and sustainable practices is top priority. They have been engaged in multiple sustainability initiatives over the last few years. Most recently, Finca Los Planes installed a new water recovery system to protect the water supply and purify the water before being released back into the ecosystem.
THE VARIETY
Pacamara is a unique variety known for its exceptional cup quality and unusually large seed size. While it can be found growing throughout Central America, it is primarily grown in El Salvador where it frequently dominates the Cup of Excellence competition. The variety itself is actually a cross between the Pacas variety and Maragogype variety.
Pacas is a natural mutation of the Bourbon Variety and was first discovered in 1949 in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador. It contains a mutation causing the tree to grow smaller than standard Arabicas. This allows the trees to be planted closer together, creating a potential higher yield of coffee cherry per acre. For this reason, the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research began a program to stabilize the variety’s genetics. As a result, Pacas now totals around 25% of El Salvador’s coffee production.
Maragogype is a natural mutation of Typica discovered in Brazil in 1870. This variety is know for its large seed, wide internode spacing and leaves. While its cup quality has great potential, it tends to be low yielding. The intent of creating the Pacamara variety was to capture the best of both Pacas, with its potential for high yields per acre, and Maragogype, for its exceptional cup quality. This endeavor was started by the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research in 1958. Roughly 30 years later, the Pacamara variety was stable enough to be released to coffee producers in the late 1980.
