Green Coffee Offerings : South America: Ecuador |
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View Our Current Ecuadorian Coffees |
Upcoming Crop CommentsWe have some new micro-lots and macro-lots in stock, from what was definitely an "up" year for Ecuador in terms of cup quality and volumes. |
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Map of Ecuador
If you were not aware, Galapagos Islands are the property of Ecuador. Recently, there has been an awful lot of Galapagos coffee, much of it Organic certified, being offered by brokers. Unfortunately, I have not cupped a lot that did not possess a defect in the cup, some very strong defects quite often. I am gald it is organic coffee, but am also concerned about the ecology of coffee production in a sensitive environment. I am also a little concerned that all the coffee from Galapagos truly is from the Island, since Ecuador grows a considerable amount of coffee on the mainland and has some difficulty selling it as specialty coffee. Perhaps I can resolve these concerns some time in the future, but, while initially an interesting offer, the samples have yet to possess positive cup character.
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 institutional 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 problems 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.
I did travel to Ecuador in September 2009 - check out the travelogue section of our Coffee Library page for the photos.
![]() Loja, Ecuador at night. |
![]() Young coffee plants, oddly called "soldiers" |
![]() Luz Chichay and Flora Bermeo, farmers from El Batan. |
Our Unroasted Ecuadorian Coffee Offerings
Please refer to our Reference Page for definitions of terms and cupping numbers used below. Check out the Sweet Maria's Coffee Home Roasting Forum for more conversation about home roasting this and other coffees.
A couple years ago we started to work more with small producers in the Espindola area of Ecuador, near the border with Peru. The area has fantastic coffee potential, but the prices for coffee have been so low historically that many small producers have simply given up on coffee. For those who continue, producing a rough form of natural dry-process coffee they call "bolla" locally has been an option. Unripe and ripe coffee is picked together, and the market price the bolla fetches barely makes harvesting worth the effort. But working with a local cooperative, ProcafeQ, we now have the opportunity to identify special microlots and buy carefully produced wet-process lots, or to build a blend from lots too small to export (the case with this lot). This has opened up new possibilities for us, and this is our 3rd year with the Ecuador program. The Espindola lots were from producers who had distinctive coffees but were too small to export, some less than a single bag. So we combined the best to form the Espindola region lot. Like the other coffees in the area, the plants are old Typica and you can see this in the elongated bean form of the green coffee.
The coffee fragrance has a nice caramel-malt sweetness in the lighter roasts, with just a trace of floral honeysuckle estery notes, turning to a more straightforward caramel scent at Full City. In the wet aroma, caramel dominates, with milk chocolate and almond (actually, reminded me of Almond Roca). The cup is marked by the same caramelized sugar sweetness evident in the aromatics, accented with vanilla. There is a hint of tangerine brightness. Full City roast has an interesting savory quality, a touch of pine and dill seed, with a good sweet-bittersweet balance. The mouthfeel is light, and there is a bit of root beer spice accent in the finish as it cools. It's not a super complex coffee, more straight-forward and with "classic" restraint. I think it expresses the Typica cultivar flavor well. I remember fondly the same flavor profile from a Mexico Oaxaca coffee and some of the highest-grown Kona coffees, also pure Typica types. I really like the SO espresso I made from the FC roast of this coffee - very tangy chocolate-almond notes with spicy accents.
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2005-2006 | 2004 -2003 | 2001-2002 | Pre-2000 Tom's Sample Cupping Log | Moisture Content Readings This page is authored
by Thompson Owen and Sweet Maria's Coffee, Inc. and is not to be
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