Cuscatleco is a selection of the breeding strain of T5296, also called Sarchimor. Sarchimor is not a distinct variety, rather it is a group of many different varieties with similar ancestry. The origins of T5296 lie in the early days of the regional consortium Fundación Salvadoreña para Investigaciones en Café (PROCAFÉ) in El Salvador in Central America. The consortium was established in 1978 with funding from the USAID Regional Office for Central American Programs (ROCAP) and the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) in Brazil to respond to the threat of recent coffee leaf rust in the region.
Accordingly, the Cuscatleco variety was developed by PROCAFÉ in El Salvador. The Sarchimor type is a Villa Sarchi x Timor hybrid cross. In coffee breeding, T5296 is an important leaf rust resistant plant. The only challenge is the fact that it is not stable from one generation to the next.
It is a highland coffee that develops a rounded cup profile with finer and more extensive flavors due to the longer maturation period.