Ecuador Morona-Santiago – Juan Pena – Small Holder “Taisha Blend”

Description

Ecuador is a far less known coffee producer than its neighbors; Colombia and Peru. It does not have the major coffee infustructure to support large scale production. This can be a win-win though, the bulk of its coffee production is botique and on the craft side leading to some very tasty lots that differentiate themselves from the average Colombian or Peruvian coffee. They tend to be a bit more expensive due to the smaller supply chains but that really helps create a base line sustainability for their farmers.

This lot is coming from small holders in Morona-Santiago, a province on the eastern side of the country that shares a border with Peru. Perfect coffee growing area just below the equator and at good altitiude.

Juan Peña, who put together this small holder lot, established an export company called CaféExporto, he has been working on ways to capture quality premiums with a group of producers from the community of Macus who cultivate coffee on just a few acres of land.

Juan has been providing seed and technical support to a group of 25 producers. Through a model of collaboration, Juan has been able to build a traceable community blend with a vibrant regional profile. Each producer has their own micro-mill to carefully harvest cherries, depulp, ferment, wash and gently dry the parchment on raised beds.

Tasting Notes: Best medium to dark roasted, the cup is full bodied, rich and clean with just a hint of crisp floral at the light to medium roasts. More dominate nutty/chocolaty tones comingle with some nice spice and floral/buzzy acidity, a hint of caramel and soft fruit can be coaxed out of the beans more in the medium roast range. If we had to compare, we pop it somewhere between a Peru and Costa Rican coffee, a very tasty combo. Dark roasts will mute almost all of the more floral aspects of the cup and promote more darker roast Colombian features of toasted nutty tones with the exception of the hints of spice, which seem much more common in Peru coffee.

Roasting Notes:  Easy to roast, even with medium to low chaff. We recommend avoiding traditional light roasts, the spice notes come off a bit more vegital like a Kenya/Tanz coffee. Medium to dark devlops the lovely nutty/chocoalty undertones and mute some of the acidity. Assuming you can wait 3-4 days before drinking, a little longer setup really makes the cup pop especially if looking for the more delicate fruit/caramel like tones.