Episode 596: Ecuador Perla Chiquita AAA Washed Bourbon

In 1998 Fabián Lomas worked in Quito for a company that bought and sold coffee. During his time working for this company he was able to learn a lot about coffee, and about coffee production and processing methods. Fast forward ten years to 2008: Fabián decided to take a big risk and rent a piece of land to produce his own coffee. He had the eventual goal of making enough money to buy his own land.

From the very beginning Fabián was familiar with speciality coffee, and he wanted to start his farm off on the right foot. He took lots of care in the processes carried out on the farm to produce great tasting coffee. Fabián is currently trying to involve his two children, Willy and Lizeth, in the farm's operating procedures. Every time someone visits, Fabián encourages his children to show the guests around; he wants them to take over running the business one day.

Willy graduated from high school in 2016. Since then he has been working with his father, learning more about coffee production, and taking care of the agricultural management of the coffee trees. For instance, Willy and Fabián are in charge of weed management, fertilization, and harvesting. Lizeth not only takes care of the drying and hand-sorting of the coffee, but she also owns a garden centre.

Fabián's family have passed through hard economic moments in their lives, which has led to lack of fertilization. That in turn resulted in diseases affecting the harvest. However, now with the help of our exporting partners Caravela, they have been able to improve their economic situation and build a drying station, and their next plan is to finally buy the land to have their own farm.

What jumps out first is brown sugar - think dark, heavy demerara. Alongside that is a creamy body with a grating of lime zest and a delicate mango too.

• Country: Ecuador
• Parroquia: Pichincha
• Cantón: Nanagal
• Farm: Perla Chiquita
• Producer: Luis Fabián Lomas
• Altitude: 1,300 m.a.s.l.
• Total farm size: 5 hectares
• Coffee producing area: 1.5 hectares
• Varietal: Bourbon
• Processing method: Fully washed and fermented without water
• Fermentation time: 14 hours
• Drying method: Covered patios
• Drying time: 7–15 days

CUPPING NOTES

Demerara sugar, mango, lime zest

Clean Cup: (1-8): 6
Sweetness: (1-8): 7
Acidity: (1-8): 6.5
Mouthfeel: (1-8): 7
Flavour: (1-8): 6.5
Aftertaste: (1-8): 6
Balance: (1-8): 6.5
Overall: (1-8): 6.5
Correction:(+36): +36

Total (max 100): 88

Roasting Information
Medium to medium-dark - through first and give it some development. Pushing it up to the first pops of second and the brown sugar will shine, or keep it in the gap to highlight the fruit notes.