Ecuador Pichincha

Ecuador coffee is a rarity.  They ship out 400,000 pounds a year which sounds like a lot, but when you think about 50 million pounds a year out of Brazil and 15 million pounds a year out of Colombia, you understand Ecuador is just a speck.

Pichincha is both a region in the South-Central part of the country, and also the name of the mill that processes the coffee there.  This coffee is grown by an estate called Cruz Loma.

This is best as a light roast coffee. It's not all that finicky to roast -- there's a pretty good range of roasting profiles and ending temperatures that work with this bean.  Our favorite roast is smack dab between first cracks and second cracks.  So about a minute after the first cracks end, and about a minute before the 2nd cracks begin (with an air roaster, your times will be much shorter than this).  As you go darker, you lose the sweetness and floral notes of the coffee.  It's still good coffee, all the way up to the 2nd cracks. The lighter you take it the more acidity you get.  But right down the middle you can expect to find the following:  sweet, thin but silky body, lemon-lime, jasmine, rose petal.  Sweet.  Very clean aftertaste.  Reminds me of a Kona in a good way.

Really nice single origin espresso.  We take it just to 2nd cracks and enjoy the flavors of pineapple, citrus, and very smooth mouthfeel with sweet aftertaste.

It's nice as a manual pourover -- both a chemex and hario seem to brew the coffee very well.   Very nice iced coffee and cold brew.  If you enjoy espresso, try taking the coffee to the 2nd cracks or further and brewing it in an aeropress or as espresso. It's fun to have a coffee from Ecuador, and this is a solid above average bean from a rarely seen origin.  I would particularly recommend it to customers who enjoy Costa Rica and Panama coffees.

This is a May 2022 arrival.