Ingredients
The coffee
- 30 gPacamara beans
- light to medium roast
- ground medium-coarse
- just before brewing
The water
- 500 mlwater
- at about 94 degrees
- filtered
The equipment
- a pour-over cone and filter
- or a cafetiere
- a scale
- a gooseneck kettle helps
To serve
- black
- in a warmed cup
Directions
- Grind it just before you brew it. Ground coffee loses aroma within minutes. Let a boiled kettle stand a minute. About sixty grams per litre is a guide. Boil the water and let it stand. Give it about a minute off the boil.
- Rinse the filter paper with hot water. Pour all of that rinse water away. Grind the beans medium-coarse. Too fine and the water runs slowly.
- Adjust it after tasting the first cup. Setting up is straightforward enough. Put the grounds in the filter. Pour just enough water to wet the grounds. Use about twice the weight of the coffee. Let it sit for thirty seconds. Pour the rest of the water slowly.
- Pour in circles from the centre outward. Keep the whole pour controlled. Keep the pour within the coffee bed. The whole brew should take about three minutes.
- Use the time to adjust the grind. Judging it takes a careful taste. Taste it once it has cooled slightly. Very hot coffee hides its flavours.
- Taste it at drinking temperature. Sour and thin means underextracted. Grind it coarser for the first. Grind it finer for the second. It should be bright rather than heavy.
- Pour it into a warmed clean cup. That is not a rule but a waste otherwise. Keep beans in an airtight container. Keep them away from light and heat. Never store coffee in the refrigerator.
Technique
- Pacamara was bred in El Salvador from 1958 by the national coffee institute, crossing Pacas — a compact natural mutation of Bourbon found on a Salvadoran farm — with Maragogipe, a Brazilian mutation of Typica that produces the very large elephant beans. It took the bean size from one and the compact plant from the other, and the cup quality exceeded both parents. It wins international cupping competitions, particularly Cup of Excellence, and is also known for being inconsistent, varying a great deal with growing conditions.
- Weigh the coffee rather than measuring by spoon: Pacamara beans are unusually large, so a spoonful holds fewer beans and less coffee than you would expect. About sixty grams per litre is the guide.
- Buy it roasted light to medium, since dark roasting destroys the floral notes that are the reason it is grown. Large beans also roast unevenly if rushed, the outside colouring before the inside develops, which is a real challenge for roasters.
Substitutions
- A cafetière stands in for a pour-over cone, though a gooseneck kettle helps keep the pour within the coffee bed rather than running down the filter paper.
- Rinse the filter paper with hot water and pour it away, which removes the papery taste and warms the cone.
Variations
- Bloom the coffee first with about twice its weight in water for thirty seconds: fresh coffee releases carbon dioxide that pushes water away from the grounds, and the bloom lets it escape so extraction is even. A bed that swells and bubbles shows the coffee is fresh; stale coffee barely blooms.
- Bitter and drying means overextracted, so grind coarser; sour and thin means underextracted, so grind finer. The whole brew should take about three minutes.
- Never store beans in the refrigerator, where they absorb odours and condensation; an airtight container in a cupboard is better.
History
Bred in El Salvador in 1958 by the national coffee institute, crossing the Pacas and Maragogipe varieties; it now wins international cupping competitions.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pacamara coffee?
Pacamara coffee is a drink from El Salvador: large-bean highland coffee with intense floral and fruit flavours. Bred in El Salvador in 1958 by the national coffee institute, crossing the Pacas and Maragogipe varieties; it now wins international cupping competitions.
How long does Pacamara coffee take to make?
Pacamara coffee takes 5 minutes of preparation and 5 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 2. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Pacamara coffee?
Yes, within limits. A cafetière stands in for a pour-over cone, though a gooseneck kettle helps keep the pour within the coffee bed rather than running down the filter paper. Rinse the filter paper with hot water and pour it away, which removes the papery taste and warms the cone.
What is the most important thing to get right in Pacamara coffee?
Pour in circles from the centre outward. Keep the whole pour controlled. Keep the pour within the coffee bed. The whole brew should take about three minutes.
