3 - Santa Sofia - El Salvador 2026 (Dry)

Bernardina is an exclusive coffee variety discovered by Café Pacas in 2012 at Finca Los Bellotos, thanks
to the careful observation of farm manager Ruperto Bernardino Merche, who first noticed a group of
unusual trees with exceptionally sweet cherries. After harvesting and processing these cherries
separately, the coffee revealed an extraordinary cup profile. A later DNA analysis confirmed that it did
not match any known variety.
We named it Bernardina in honor of the person whose experience and attention first brought these trees
to light.
Since its discovery, Café Pacas has spent years studying Bernardina, reproducing it, and exploring its
potential across different altitudes, farms, and microclimates.
This long-term work has allowed us to preserve the variety carefully while discovering how it can express
itself in different environments.
Today, Bernardina is grown exclusively by Café Pacas. Each lot is part of our ongoing effort to
understand, preserve, and share a rare variety discovered within our own farms.
Over the years, Bernardina has earned international recognition, including Cup of Excellence awards
and appearances in international barista competitions.
It is part of our Incunables category, a collection reserved for Café Pacas’ rarest and most exceptional
coffees. Located in Cantón Palo de Campana, Santa Ana, at approximately 1,530 meters above
sea level, Finca Santa Sofía is a small 9.45-hectare farm with volcanic soils, tropical
weather, and a beautiful hilly landscape.
This farm has been in our family for five generations. It is where our family learned how to
cultivate coffee, and where much of our history, knowledge, and passion for coffee
began.
Though small in size, Santa Sofía has consistently produced exceptional coffees thanks
to its unique microclimate, altitude, and terroir.
In 2021, we planted Bernardina trees at Finca Santa Sofía as part of our ongoing work to
explore how this rare variety expresses itself across different farms and microclimates.
From the beginning, our hope was to understand what Bernardina could become in this
historic farm.
Today, that work has reached an important milestone: these trees produced the coffee
that earned 3rd place in the Natural category at Cup of Excellence El Salvador 2026, with
a score of 90.10 points.
This achievement is closely connected to Antonio Meléndez, known as Don Toñito,
whose lifetime of experience at Santa Sofía has shaped the care and consistency behind
the farm’s coffees. His deep knowledge of the land, together with the work of our
agricultural, processing, and quality teams, is reflected in the character of this. This Bernardina Natural lot from Finca Santa Sofía was dried slowly on African beds to preserve the
clarity and delicacy of Bernardina while allowing the natural process to build sweetness, fruit depth,
and texture.
The drying process was carefully managed by our patio team, Paulino Gutiérrez and María Mártir
Argueta. Across three separate lots, drying times ranged from 13 to 20 days, with constant monitoring
to ensure even drying and cup consistency.
Each lot was later cupped by Daniel Contreras, Arturo Cañas, and Juan Alfredo Pacas to evaluate
quality, consistency, and the expression of Santa Sofía’s unique Bernardina profile. At Café Pacas, sustainability is not a separate initiative from quality. It is part of how we care for the land, the people
behind each harvest, and the long-term future of coffee.
Our sustainability strategy is rooted in a clear purpose: to make coffee farming more sustainable and rewarding by
producing exceptional, high-value coffees that help revalue agricultural work.
At Santa Sofía, this vision is reflected in the way we manage the farm: preserving shade, protecting soil health,
reducing erosion, encouraging biodiversity, and caring for the people whose work makes each lot possible.
Across our farms, we promote water preservation through infiltration practices that help rainwater return to the soil
and recharge aquifers. We also maintain shade-grown coffee systems that support biodiversity, regulate temperature,
protect the soil, and create healthier conditions for coffee production.
Santa Sofía is especially meaningful within this journey. The farm has reached 100% non-chemical weed control,
combining manual and mechanized methods to protect its ecosystem while maintaining careful agricultural
management.
Our Incunables coffees also allow us to connect quality with social impact. By producing higher-value coffees like
Bernardina, we are able to create better income opportunities for the people who harvest them and strengthen the
value of agricultural work.
For us, producing exceptional coffee means protecting the natural resources, human effort, and long-term
relationships that make that excellence possible.