Panama Auromar Pacamara Natural

About Panama Auromar Pacamara Natural

This new crop Pacamara Natural arrived the last few days of July via airfreight, a Direct Trade coffee, in limited quantity. 

We were in Panama in early June and while there we purchased numerous coffees that will be arriving soon and presented to you over the coming months. We are bringing back this Pacamara from Finca Auromar that was very popular last season. In other years past we purchased Geisha from Robert Brenes, owner of the farm.  This is now the second time we selected Pacamara from the same farm. It costs considerably less than the Geisha variety that he producers but this coffee really surprised and charmed us. We are offering it for the same price as last year, despite the tariff.

The Panama highlands that surround the Baru Volcano, the cities of Boquete and Volcan, produce some of the top coffees in the world today. While this area has become synonymous with and the homeland of Geisha variety coffee, other varieties are also produced, including Caturra, Catuai, Typica and Pacamara, which has gained much traction among producers here.  Barry from Roastmasters was visiting Panama as an international judge of the annual Best of Panama competition. He spent additional time visiting farms, cupping, evaluating and buying coffee. Crop output was good this year.  We have visited Finca Auromar a couple of times over the years. It's hard to reach due to steep inclines but once on the farm, it feels like a preserve. Monkeys are chattering somewhere in the background and the air is cool.

• Crop season: 2024-25
• Name: Auromar Estate Pacamara
  
• Producer: Roberto Brenes
• Growing Region: Jurutungo Candela, Volcan
• Varietal: Pacamara 100%
• Elevation: 1600 meters (5250 feet)
• Processing: Natural
• Drying:  African beds

Roberto Brenes is a really interesting person with interests well outside that of coffee farming. Farming coffee is what he plans to do through his retirement years and the land has been in his wife's family for generations. Roberto was for a time, the head of the Panamanian stock exchange; he has also served as senior officer of an international Panamanian banking chain, so he has a lot of knowledge of international finance; Panama because of its location and the canal in particular, is a tremendously growing country with interests from all over the globe. Panama City, the capital, is sometimes referred to as the Dubai of the Americas and a place where there is much international investment. It wasn't always that way. During the Noriega years when under dictator rule, Panamanians suffered and lived in fear. A younger Brenes was an outspoken critic of the Noriega regime and was twice exiled from the country, something of a badge of honor when looking back on it. Educated in Panama through secondary school Brenes went to Columbia University in New York where he earned an MBA, which led him to work in banking when he returned to his country. Later, while exiled and in South America he elevated his career to investment banking. Post Noriega and exile, when Panama was coming out from under dictatorship, Brenes was offered the role of Central Banker for the country. The zeal he brings to everything in his life is now being poured into his coffee farming and the results are obvious.

Brenes has been engaged in Ironman triathlon competitions, for which he clearly has a love. We are happy to count ourselves among Roberto's friends and acquaintances and look forward to our next meeting. Now 80 years old, Roberto just completed an amazing feat, climbing to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, this July.

Roberto Brenes (left) on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro this July, 2025.

For those interested in some background, Pacamara is a cultivar of two varieties, the Pacas type of Bourbon (Paca) and the very large bean Maragogipe (Mara). A cultivar is a human made cultivation of varieties, culti + var. The Paca variety was discovered in 1949 on a farm owned by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador and later was part of a pedigree selection of the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research. Maragogipe was first discovered in 1870 in a Brazilian city of the same name.  These two varieties, when combined, produce a coffee that can have very big body or be more delicate depending upon terroir, climate and farming practices.

Cup Characteristics: A mildly floral expression of Pacamara. Aromas: cherry, marzipan, roasted chestnut with savory overtones. Flavors of chocolate, raspberry and fig with tart cherry background and finish. Very chocolatey mouthfeel with hazelnut.

Roasting Notes:  We like this coffee best when roasted 30 to 60 seconds past the end of 1st Crack, or about 15% development time. Pacamara coffees are pretty resilient beans, but keep in mind natural processed coffees tend to roast faster than washed coffees.