ECUADOR EL PANACO GOLD CUP

Curator's Notes

Ecuador is one of the true coffee gems of Latin America, for those who know to look beyond the surface: while 80% of Ecuadorian beans are instant-coffee Robusta beans, their mountain-grown Arabica coffees are a prized rarity. These specialty roasts come from small family farms, in very small quantities, so Ecuador often flies under the radar in specialty coffee circles-- making it a lovely secret among coffee lovers that Ecuador produces perhaps some of the most sublime single origins in the Latin American region. The altitude and climate combine to produce wonderfully soft, balanced coffees, ever-so-slightly acidic, with clean notes of cinnamon, cardamom, and cocoa.

Roaster's Notes

This Taza Dorada–winning lot comes to us courtesy of producer Richard Granda. The microregion of Sitio Cango Nuevo in the Puyango region sits at about 1400 meters above sea level, hosting Granda's evenly mixed lot of Bourbon, Caturra, and Typica. He manually machine depulps the same day as the harvest, ferments in a tank for 14 hours, then follows with three washings. His coffee is then set on raised beds in a parabolic dryer, where it is moved three to four times per day until it is stable and dried. A sweet, round cup with a nice body. Notes of chocolate cake, blood orange, rainier cherry, cola, and tamarind.