El Salvador Santa Ana Pacamara AAA Lot 2

Beans: El Salvador Santa Ana Pacamara AAA Lot 2
Varietal: Pacamara
Elevation: 1250-1400 masl
Process: Washed
Retailer: Sweet Maria's
Pre-Roast Weight: 236 grams
Roast Attempt: 19th
Roast Date/Time: March 14, 2021, 1700 CDT

One of the things that helped drive my obsession with specialty coffee in the first place was all the different aspects you could "collect" - most especially origins and varietals.  I tried an El Salvadoran coffee fairly recently, but when I saw a Pacamara pop up I had to try it (even at $7.50 a pound green, which is easily the most I've spent to date).  Pacamara is a hybrid of two varietals - Pacas, a natural mutation of Bourbon which is native to El Salvador, and Maragogype, a Typica mutation discovered in Brazil known for its very large beans.  Because Maragogype is a low-yielding varietal, it was crossed with Pacas in the hope of generating a hybrid that would combine the size of Maragogype with the productivity of Pacas.  Pacamara does do that - though in a curious fact of biology, it is not fully stable as a hybrid and has a tendency to revert to the characteristics of just one of the parent varietals.  However, as this lot was rated highly, I don't think we have to be too concerned about it.  We might, though, need to worry about Pacamara's reputation for being hard to roast.

As usual, I started at 18:00 and 100% power to the heating element (P5).

Chamber Temperature

16:00 - 149
14:00 - 235
12:00 - 291
11:00 - 311
10:00 - 296

It is interesting to note that the 11:00 reading - right on the cusp of the yellowing phase - can be a little bit variable.  You would think that broadly this would always be about the same, and certainly there isn't a wide range of temperatures I've seen there.  But it has fluctuated by 10 degrees or so.

At any rate, yellowing occurred right around the same place it usually does, and so I increased the drum speed at 10:30 on the display, 7:30 into the roast.  One thing I did not do this time was drop the power from the heating element.  Sweet Maria's recommended to "keep this one light and bright," which with the coffees I've received/ordered from them so far is a fairly unusual instruction.  I had seen instructions online suggesting that the way to handle light roasts was to keep the heat high, to try and get them through the roast a little more quickly, so I left it at 100% - while still increasing the drum speed to get that airflow for the more consistent heating.

Exhaust Temperature

10:00 - 210
9:00 - 300
8:00 - 343
7:00 - 374

With the heating element still at 100%, the A temp climbed a bit quicker than usual - compare the 7:00 temp of 374 to the 7:00 temp from the Peruvian (352) or the Burundian (361).  Indeed this was the highest 7:00 A temp I've recorded yet, though a couple of previous roasts where I also left the heating element on P5 got closer to it.  Some of this may be semi-random fluctuations but some of it may have to do with the beans themselves helping to heat up the environment.  Both the Burundian and the Pacamara had some bits of glowing chaff appear in the roaster near the end of the roast cycle, which the Peruvian didn't; it might be that beans with more chaff to heat up (and potentially burn up) will up the temperatures, and in turn that may also roast the beans slightly faster.  I've got some stuff to learn on the full science of this, I suppose.

First crack started 10:45 into the roast, 7:15 on the display, and this time I did slow the drum speed.  In trying to keep the roast light, I waited 45 seconds after the start of first crack and then sent the roast into the cooling cycle, hoping for first crack to basically just about finish in that next 30-45 seconds.  As usual, I opened the door after 90 seconds to expedite cooling.

Complete Roast Time: 11:30
Post-Roast Weight: 203 grams
Loss Percentage: 14%

This was a higher loss percentage than I had been anticipating and I was shooting for more like 12.5% if we're talking light.  But that should still be no worse than a comfortable medium, which I don't think would be a disaster, and the coloring looked both consistent and sufficiently brown in the immediate wake of the roast.  I had taken a couple shots at another El Salvadoran about six weeks ago, and on my first attempt I ran one of the preset profiles and added time at the end; the loss percentage there only got to 11.5% and in hindsight I don't recall hearing first crack, and the end product was, while at least drinkable, patently underdeveloped.  I'd certainly rather have these come in as a solid medium than not get there at all.

El Salvador Santa Ana Pacamara AAA Lot 2

These were the beans on Sunday morning, one week off roast.  Color-wise, this looked to be easily the most consistent batch of the ones I've blogged so far (although I've done a couple roasts previously that were at least this even).  It could be that the higher heat helps you get a more even coloring, though it could be the beans themselves, the shorter time in the roaster, or just a coincidence somehow.

I don't have time during the week to brew pourovers and I don't like my first experience with a specialty bean to be out of the Mr. Coffee I use on workdays, so I opted to make a smaller second pourover this morning so I could try these, even though I'd already had the Burundian as my regular morning coffee.  I used just 20 grams, and instead of using the V60 used a Bodum pourover setup I have that comes with a mesh filter and a plastic cone that drips into a plastic mug.  I used a paper filter within the mesh filter to preclude sediment in the cup and to strip out more of the oils.  20 grams of coffee to 333 grams of water yielded a total of 10 fluid ounces with this method.

TASTING NOTES: This was a somewhat uncommonly flavored cup (at least compared to other roasts I've done) that really perked me up.  It did feel pretty light and bright in spite of the higher loss percentage - the body was light without being super thin, and the acid hit like a sweet orange.  The cup had notes of nougat, orange blossom, and a hint of toffee; the end result kind of suggested a Creamsicle, though of course not as sweet.

VERDICT: Once again I found this to be an excellent cup, and very distinctive.  At that price point I'm glad I didn't screw it up, especially with Pacamara's apparent reputation for being difficult!  I have another half pound of it, so I suppose the real test is whether I can be consistent in production.  Certainly if I ever wanted to turn this into any sort of commercial endeavor that would be critical.