Description
This natural-processed, single-variety lot comes from a group of eight smallholder farmers in Huila, working in the districts of La Argentina, Acevedo, and Pitalito at elevations ranging from 1600 to 2000 masl. This strain of Arabica originated in El Salvador as a cross between the Pacas and Maragogipe varieties, Pacamara is known for its high-cup quality and long and usually large, oval shaped seeds. Generally the beans are huge but in this case, they are average sized beans, very small for a Pacamara. Often the smaller beans are sweeter and less complex but the producers made an excellent decision in pairing them with the slow dry natural processing.
Tasting Notes: Good from light to dark, but to see the fruit notes shine, keep it in the light to medium ballpark. A bit of lemony citrus upfront that fades into a sweet red fruit tone, followed by a bit of nutty/herbal darker notes. The sweetness and fruitiness linger on the tongue. A longer setup help rid the lighter roasts of the more herbal qualities. Medium roasts are pretty bulletproof and well balanced, showing a little more of a potent nutty/chocolate undertone but no missing the fruitiness and slight citric. Darker roasts worked very nicely for a natural processed, sometimes they get all sour and twangy, but being both a Colombia and Pacamara, the more robust body and nuttiness of these beans, with a chocolate and smoky overtone, balance very well. Add on a little sweet fruitiness in the aftertaste and one has a winning dark roast natural.
Roasting Notes: An easy coffee to roast, for it was hard to find a bad roast point, but due to the higher chaff levels, slightly smaller bean screen and two toned roasting. Nailing you roast on the first go can be a little challenging. Coffee has a bit longer first crack due to the two toned roasting but its not horrible, just make sure first crack has subsided pretty good before cooling it out or risk a little grassy. Getting a little development past first crack can be wise, erroring more towards a medium roast, builds a bit more body and reduces a little acidity, minimizing and grassy or herbal notes coming from too light of a roast. As you push towards a darker roast, strong medium per se, the surface will start to show a strong sheen, can help you identify the roast level a bit.
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