Coffee has a long history in Ecuador: it was introduced in the early 19th century and became its main export in the early 20th century. But coffee from Ecuador has never been included in the list of Specialty Coffee origins, mostly because of poor harvesting and processing practices. As other Ecuadorian exports (banana, oil, shrimp) exceeded coffee in export importance, hope that the quality of the coffee would improved became less. They managed to continue to ship low grade arabica and robusta coffees, finding a market among the istitutional and commecial roasters of the U.S. and Europe who are more concerned with price than cup quality. But coffee employed about 15% of the rural population.

Ecuador has everything it takes to grow great coffee. Positioned between Colombia and Peru, the interior mountain ranges have plenty of altitude, weather patterns, and ideal soil for quality coffee production. But a great coffee can be ruined at any stage in the process, from the tree to the cup. Many of the problens are with careful adherence to quality standards in the wet-processing, drying, resting (reposo) and then dry-milling of the coffee. A bit too much fermentation in the wet mill tanks, a rain storm drenching the coffee when it is on the drying patios, moist low-altitude conditions during the reposo, or badly adjusted dry-mill equipment can all ruin a wonderful coffee. Poor infrastucture, delays in shipment, tainted shipping containers ... there is one way to produce good coffee and a thousand ways to ruin it! So the new efforts by the Ecuadorian Agriculture Dewpartment and farmer Co-operatives focus on education, improved equipment, and adherence to high standards. The results are showing, and we are now stocking an excellent Ecuadorian coffee to prove it ....

ESCafe Co-op members

Notes: This is the first sample I have seen of Ecuadorian coffee that rises above average, decent cup quality. It has a character to it that is unique, and a bit rustic. This makes sense because this coffee is the result of 15 combined Co-ops and over 800 small farms ... very small, often less than 2 acres. The farms are promised prices between 25-45% more than they get on the local market, mostly resulting from a second payment made to them when the coffee sells in the US at an above average price to companies like Sweet Maria's. The Co-op has offered the coffee directly as a consignment lot, because it is difficult to get the established coffee brokers to take a risk on Ecuadorian coffee. That's a shame because the cup is excellent as are the Co-ops aims. Much of the price premium is reinvested in education and equipment improvements. In this way they can further improve consistency and cup-quality, and the Co-op can break the low-price cycle that has kept Ecuador from being recognized in the Specialty Coffee market. The cup has moderate acidity, fairly light body, and a fairly short aftertaste. But the dry fragrance of the cup is very sweet, caramelly and with spice hints. It drops a bit of that in the wet aromatics, but the sweetness and spice reemerge as cup flavors. As the cup cools the spice becomes more distinctly cardamom in character, and this pairs well with roasts tastes that are milk chocolate in tone. There is very slight husky note (and not unpleasant!) in some cups that reminds me this is a cooperative/organic coffee, but sweetness prevails...

This coffee is "transitional organic", meaning it is grown organically but the 3 year certification is not complete: they receive true Organic status in June this year. We bought this coffee with the false impression it was organic, and we don't call ANYTHING organic unless it is certified. But we decided to not reneg on the purchase because the cup is really so good...