I recently headed up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a day and popped into Madcap Coffee’s flagship store for a cuppa. I also decided to pick up a bag for myself while I was there to eliminate shipping costs from buying coffee online (which have been KILLING my monthly budget since I shut down cornerofthecafe.com and stopped receiving free coffee) (I know, I know—hyper-privileged sob story).
I wasn’t aware that the coffee I chose was a super-rare offering, so you can imagine my surprise when I finally got to the front of the long line and was told my bag and two small drips would be $33. Of course there was a long line behind me and I didn’t want to be That Guy that frantically tries to find a more affordable option (since Madcap doesn’t put pricing labels on their bags, I would have literally had to ask the cashier the price for every single bag while everyone in the line behind me audibly groaned); so I bit the bullet and spent the extra coin.
But, hey—this coffee promised to provide an Experience.
Welcome to my Table, here in the corner of this cafe. Today we’re cupping the El Salvador Pacamara La Gloria, from Madcap Coffee Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Feel free to pull up a chair.
The Pacamara is a hybrid created in 1958 in El Salvador by the Institute for Coffee Research. Pacamara was created by crossing the Pacas variety with the Maragogipe — it gets its name from the first 4 letters of each of its parents. Maragogipe appeared in Brazil in the 1870s and is known for the large cherries it produces, with consequently large seeds with low density. The Pacamara cherry and seed takes on the appearance of the Maragogipe, but the flavor profile is quite unique offering a lot of acidity and floral notes with a delicate body.
This particular Pacamara comes from a farm up the road from El Porvenir owned by Luis and Maria-Jose Rodriguez. The farm is named after Gloria Maria-Jose’s mother, who owns El Porvenir (which was one of the first coffees ever purchased by Madcap back in 2008 and is still in their rotation to this day).*
THEDETAILS
region: Apaneca-Ilamatapec, El Salvador
farm: El Porvenir
producer: Rodriguez Family
association: N/A
elevation: 1550 meters above sea level
varietal: Pacamara
process: fully washed, raised bed dried
CUPPINGNOTES
The aroma of the Pacamara La Gloria is bright and sweet, brimming with scents of citrus, stone fruit, and refined sugar.
The coffee is on the lighter side of medium-bodied and has a supple, silky mouthfeel. Like its aroma suggested it would be this is a fairly bright and effervescent coffee; and it packs a lot of flavor into each sip up front. It’s a fruit-forward coffee, and tart lemon, peach, and nectarine lead the way for sweet pound cake and vanilla. As the cup cools, these flavors fade a bit; they all sort of amalgamate while lemongrass nuances play through the finish.
As I mentioned in the preamble, this is a super-rare offering that’s only available through Madcap; and they only had 300 pounds of this beautiful coffee available to start with. So if you’re planning on purchasing a bag you better act soon!
*content courtesy of Madcap Coffee Company
What were your thoughts of this one? Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome! Feel free to enter a comment below.
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL PRODUCTS REVIEWED ARE UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS FROM THE PRODUCT MANUFACTURER.
Andrew is a husband, father, dog lover, craft beverage enthusiast, content creator, and niche market Internet celebrity. Formerly of A Table in the Corner of the Cafe and The Pulitzer Project and contributor to Barista Magazine and Mental Floss, he’s been writing on the Internet for years.