Salvadoran SHG Washed Pacamara from Finca Ataisi

When you're hunting for a coffee that balances big fruit flavor with creamy texture and structured body, it helps to know where your beans come from. This particular lot comes from one of El Salvador’s highest-elevation farms, grown under ideal volcanic conditions—and the results speak for themselves.

The Finca Ataisi Washed Pacamara is a single-origin SHG coffee grown at 1800 meters in Sonsonate Province, harvested in January and processed via washed fermentation with sun drying. Its standout features? A bright mix of strawberry, passionfruit, and cocoa, with a velvety mouthfeel and lingering finish.

Why Salvadoran Coffee Stands Out

El Salvador may be Central America’s smallest country, but it boasts one of the region’s highest population densities and the world’s densest concentration of volcanoes—earning it the nickname “the Land of Volcanoes.” Most of its premium coffee grows in the western highlands, near Guatemala, where elevations reach well over 1000 meters and volcanic soils enrich the terroir. The country’s coffee is traditionally shade-grown by smallholder farmers, handpicked between November and March. Its flavor profile tends toward gentle acidity, balanced sweetness, and a smooth, almost chocolatey body—with little to no bitterness.

What Is SHG Coffee?

Salvadoran coffee is graded by altitude:

• SHG (Strictly High Grown): 1200 meters and above
• HG (High Grown): 900–1199 meters
• CS (Central Standard): 600–899 meters

This Pacamara lot qualifies as SHG due to its 1800-meter elevation, ensuring slower maturation, denser beans, and more complex cup qualities.

Meet the Pacamara Variety

Pacamara is a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe, first developed in El Salvador in 1958. It inherits Pacas’ refined cup profile and Maragogipe’s impressive bean size—often 70–80% the size of a typical elephant bean. Most Pacamara beans measure 17+ mesh (with 90% at 18+), with an average length of 1.03 cm (compared to 0.8–0.85 cm for standard beans), width of 0.71 cm, and thickness of 0.37 cm. The variety is prized for its vibrant acidity, which can express notes of biscuit, tropical fruit, or citrus, alongside exceptional body and a rich, creamy mouthfeel. It shines brightest in high-altitude regions like El Salvador and Guatemala.

Finca Ataisi’s Washed Process

This particular Pacamara is processed using a traditional washed method: the coffee cherries are depulped, fermented in water to remove the mucilage, then dried in the sun. The careful fermentation and drying help highlight the variety’s inherent complexity while maintaining a clean, sweet profile. The result is a cup that balances juicy acidity with a dense, dessert-like body.

Flavor notes include nutty chocolate, passionfruit, cream, and strawberry—a rare combination that makes this microlot especially memorable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does SHG mean in coffee?

SHG stands for Strictly High Grown, indicating coffee grown at 1200 meters above sea level or higher. These higher elevations lead to slower bean development, resulting in greater density, more complex flavors, and often a brighter acidity. This Finca Ataisi Pacamara is SHG, grown at 1800 meters.

Where is Finca Ataisi located?

Finca Ataisi is a coffee farm in the Izalco region of Sonsonate Province, El Salvador. It sits at an altitude of 1800 meters and produces high-quality SHG coffee, including this washed Pacamara lot harvested in January.

What is special about the Pacamara coffee variety?

Pacamara is a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe, known for its large bean size (usually 17+ mesh, 90% 18+), vibrant acidity, and full body. Flavors often include tropical fruit, nuts, chocolate, and berries, with a creamy mouthfeel. It performs best at high altitudes like those found in El Salvador.

How is this Pacamara coffee processed?

The Finca Ataisi Pacamara is processed using the washed method: cherries are pulped, fermented in water to remove mucilage, then sun-dried. This process enhances clarity and cleanliness in the cup while preserving the variety’s inherent sweetness and complexity.

What flavors should I expect from this coffee?

This SHG Pacamara offers notes of nutty chocolate, passionfruit, cream, and strawberry. The cup is sweet, juicy, and well-balanced with a rich body—a reflection of both its variety and high-altitude growing conditions.

Recommended FrontStreet Beans for Pacamara Fans

If you enjoy the complex fruit and chocolate notes of Finca Ataisi’s Pacamara, try our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gedeb for bright berry and floral tones, or Kenya Little Tomato for bold acidity and juicy depth. Both are single-origin pour-over favorites with distinct personality. Freshly roasted within 5 days · Orders placed before 17:00 ship the same day · Next-day delivery across most of Guangdong Province.