Painted Leopard Brings El Salvador's Monte Cacahuatique to San Francisco

El Salvador grows exceptional coffee—volcanic soil, high altitude, a heritage that stretches back generations. Yet finding a roaster dedicated exclusively to Salvadoran beans? That’s vanishingly rare. Painted Leopard has been filling that gap since 2023, selling at Bay Area farmers markets and the SF Coffee Festival. Now the El Salvadoran American-owned roaster has a permanent home: a cafe inside The RealReal’s Union Square flagship at 253 Post Street.

Cousins Claudia Campos and Daniel Ortiz founded Painted Leopard with roaster Octavio Vargas after Campos’ mother sent beans from a cooperative near her home in Osicala. The quality surprised them—the Bay Area had nothing like it. They formalised the venture in 2021 and launched publicly in November 2023.

From Civil War Ruins to Specialty Coffee

Painted Leopard’s beans come from the Cooperativa San Carlos Dos, nestled in Morazán Department on the slopes of the Cacahuatique Mountains. The cooperative’s story is one of resilience: in 1983, it had 300 members. El Salvador’s brutal civil war reduced that number to 15. The survivors rebuilt, and today they handpick cherries at over 1,400 metres elevation, using shared processing equipment to create small-lot specialty coffees.

Campos’ family fled the same conflict. Her mother eventually settled in the United States, but the ties to Osicala never broke. Painted Leopard brings that personal connection into every bag—direct trade that pays farmers above commodity rates so they can sustain their families and reinvest in their harvests.

Volcanic Terroir, Experimental Processing

The Cacahuatique volcanic soil contributes pronounced acidity and aromatic complexity to the beans. Native tamarind, passion fruit, and mango trees shade the coffee plants, imparting sweet, fruity undertones that show up clearly in the cup.

The cooperative experiments with processing methods that highlight these qualities:

• Dulzura: Notes of Fuji apple and cacao nib, featured in Painted Leopard’s signature brown sugar latte made with housemade brown sugar
• Cometa: A limited anaerobic-processed lot optimised for pour-over brewing
• Abejas (“Bees”): Honey-processed natural coffee that pulls tamarind and wine characteristics from the terroir

Vargas handles roasting at 444 Collaborative in the East Bay, focusing on medium and light roasts that let the origin speak rather than masking it with char.

Weekend Start, Full Service Coming

The Union Square cafe opened March 1, initially running Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Plans call for expanding to seven-day service by early April, adding pour-overs, cold brew, and more specialty drinks to an initial espresso-focused menu.

The name references the ocelot, a spotted wild cat that roams Central and South America. It captures the founders’ mission: bringing the rich coffee culture of their homeland to different parts of the world, one cup at a time.

Why This Matters

Single-origin transparency has become table stakes in specialty coffee. What makes Painted Leopard different is the specificity of commitment: one country, one region, one cooperative with a story of survival. When you order an espresso here, you’re drinking coffee from farms that rebuilt after a civil war, processed by the descendants of those who stayed, and roasted by Salvadoran Americans reconnecting with their family’s homeland.

The Bay Area has excellent multi-roaster cafes, Ethiopian specialists, and plenty of places pouring Gesha. It now has a dedicated window into Monte Cacahuatique—a volcanic range most coffee drinkers have never heard of, producing beans worth seeking out.

Painted Leopard is located at 253 Post Street inside The RealReal, with weekend hours through early April.