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Updated on Jan 03, 2026
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Origin Stories: Sơn Pacamara Specialty Coffee Farm and Roastery – Farm to Cup in Dalat, Vietnam
While Vietnam is known as the world’s second-largest coffee exporter, that reputation has mostly been tied to quantity over quality. Specifically, the Robusta beans that fuel instant coffee and commodity blends worldwide. But tucked away at 1,500 meters elevation, next to the tourist attraction Pink Valley, a former auto salesman named Nguyen Van Son is one of the many producers around Dalat and in Lam Dong province rewriting that narrative, one meticulously selected coffee cherry at a time.
His brand Son Pacamara is proof that Vietnamese Arabica can compete at high levels of specialty coffee when treated right. With SCA scores consistently above 85, and a farm-to-cup operation that spans from cultivation to roasting, this 4-hectare property has become a pilgrimage site for coffee professionals from Vietnam and abroad.
Alex and I first came across Son Pacamara on Lazada while living in Da Nang in 2024 and searching for coffee beans to brew at home. Their coffees Lang Biang and Heirloom were some of our favorite brews we tried while in Vietnam. A year and a half later I took a trip to Dalat and had the opportunity to meet Mr. Son in his element: at Son Pacamara Specialty Farm in Dalat. I also checked out his roastery and could see with my own eyes why Son Pacamara coffee stood out. Here is what I learned.
Nguyen Van Son – the Accidental Pacamara Farmer
“I didn’t choose coffee, coffee chose me”, is the first things that Mr. Son tells me when asking him how it all started. Twenty years ago, with zero agricultural experience, he bought land in Dalat to grow some vegetables and flowers and to have a place to relax. There were some coffee trees of the Catimor variety on his farm, but he didn’t really know much about it. It took him some five to six years to learn and understand coffee varieties and cultivation. He eventually chopped the Catimor trees: “Catimor produces quantity but is considered low quality because it is a Robusta hybrid, which means higher caffeine, more sourness, and fewer desirable flavor traits.”
The breakthrough came in 2010, when Mr. Son acquired seedlings from a local agricultural research institute. When those trees finally produced cherries, the beans were enormous. They thrived in the micro climate of his farm. Visiting coffee professionals helped him to identify the trees as Pacamara, a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe varieties native to El Salvador. This is when Son Pacamara was born.
Semi-Wild Cultivation at 1,500 Meters
From the roastery of Son Pacamara, it’s a ten minute drive by motorbike to reach the farm itself. The ride takes you up into the hills, past the surprising sight of an amusement park of sorts, until you arrive at a property that rises from 1,470 to over 1,500 meters elevation.
Mr. Son didn’t know what he was doing at the start, so he let nature do it’s thing. But over two decades, that approach has evolved into an intentional philosophy of semi-wild, mostly organic cultivation. The coffee grows under shade from companion trees like persimmons, bananas, and macadamias. They regulate temperature, provide nutrients, maintain soil health, and create the ecosystem balance that allows the coffee to thrive. The farm sits next to what used to be forest. As development has encroached over the years, Mr. Son’s land has become something of a refuge. “Where did all the insects go from the neighboring farms?” he asks with a knowing smile. “They’re here. This is their home now.”
Son Pacamara cultivates six varieties of Arabica, each chosen for its potential to express something exceptional in this specific terroir:
Pacamara remains the flagship, those elephant beans with complex notes of orange, tamarind, milk chocolate, and molasses that first put the farm on the map.
Typica and Bourbon, descendants of the original French colonial stocks brought to Dalat. Mr. Son describes the taste of the Typica as elegant yet rich and the Bourbon as fruity and floral.
Mundo Novo, a natural hybrid of Typica and Bourbon that Mr. Son pointed out during my visit, adds another dimension to the farm’s offerings. The coffee is sweet, balanced, with apricot and apple notes.
Geisha from Ethiopia has found a home here after Mr. Son experimented with multiple geographic strains to determine which performed best in his conditions.
Heirloom types are also part of his coffee forest and brings fresh lemon flavor, brown sugar, and bright acidity into the cup.
Harvesting is 100% selective hand-picking. Only fully ripe cherries make the cut. Mr. Son uses a Brix meter to measure sugar content. Cherries must hit at least 16% to be picked. The daily harvest averages just 30 kilograms, compared to 300 kilograms on a commercial farm.
When I visited, volunteers were scattered across the hillside, picking and sorting cherries. This is part of what makes Son Pacamara unique, it’s as much an educational farm as a commercial operation. Coffee enthusiasts, baristas, and aspiring farmers come to learn Mr. Son’s methods firsthand, often contributing labor during harvest in exchange for knowledge.
Processing at Son Pacamara Farm
While visiting the farm I could observe the selection process, where volunteers removed floaters, insect-damaged beans, and anything under-ripe. Multiple processing methods – washed, honey, and natural – are employed based on the season’s weather conditions. Fermentation is closely monitored, with pH levels checked multiple times daily. Beans dry on raised beds for optimal airflow.
From 800 kilograms of parchment coffee annually, the farm produces roughly 600 kilograms of green beans. Of that, only 10-15% achieves specialty grade. For his Geisha, 503 trees produced just 6 kilograms of specialty-grade coffee last year.
Visiting Son Pacamara: Farm Tours and Education
One of the most valuable aspects of Son Pacamara is its accessibility. Visitors can book tours that include farm walks, harvesting experiences, roasting workshops, and cupping sessions. Mr. Son has become one of Vietnam’s leading educators in specialty coffee, happily sharing his knowledge with the next generation of farmers and coffee professionals.
If you’re visiting Dalat, you can arrange a visit to the farm or stop by at the roastery in the city to taste the coffees there.
The Roastery: Where Farm Meets Cup
Discover Coffee from Sơn Pacamara
Đắk Nông, Vietnam / Da Lat, Vietnam
Mr. Son opened the roastery six years ago during COVID. It’s a spacious, inviting space with cool design touches like origami lamps casting warm light over coffee equipment and roasting machines. This is where the farm-to-cup model completes itself. Before the roastery, Mr. Son only sold green beans, but once he started roasting, it allowed him to fully develop the flavor potential of his coffee.
Sơn Pacamara also roasts beans for other farmers, like the Lang Biang Filter Coffee produced by Zanya Coffee. Each coffee is being shipped with a note about the producer and brewing instructions.
Mr. Son’s journey from accidental farmer to specialty coffee pioneer mirrors a larger shift happening across Vietnam. For too long, Vietnamese coffee has been synonymous with Robusta. But producers like Mr. Son are proving that Vietnamese terroir, when combined with variety selection, cultivation practices, and processing expertise, can produce high-quality Arabica.
“I want to share everything, flavor and aroma, where it comes from for everybody,” he told me. His credo “No secrets, just passion” is even written on the offical merch. That generosity and the willingness to teach, to open his farm to anyone genuinely interested in learning, is perhaps Son Pacamara’s most lasting contribution. Twenty years after coffee chose him, Mr. Son is ensuring that the next generation of Vietnamese coffee producers won’t have to figure it all out alone.
