Producers | Camilo Ponce |
Varietal | Caturra, Typica |
Process | Washed |
Origin | La Perla, Ecuador |
Altitude | 1600 MASL |
Farm | Camillo Ponce's back garden |
Sustainably sourced coffee from La Perla, Ecuador
Notes of Peach Tangerine & Black Tea
This coffee tastes at its best when dunk black it is a lovely sweet coffee.
YEAR THREE of PEARL.
This coffee is sourced by Makicuna; two friends of mine Andre and Claudia. Andre met Carmen Ojeda and Camilo Ponce on a bus in Ecuador, they immediately hit it off and have since developed a friendship rooted in trust and laughter. Carmen and Camilo are very proud farmers and have been growing coffee for 12 years, their experience is based on trial and error and their practices are not textbook to specialty coffee due to their doing everything themselves; there is no association in the region. All of the above is what makes this so special. Unfortunately this year there was an issue with their harvest and we have all agreed to use the coffee from Camilo's sister instead, Aida Ponce.
I feel honoured to be roasting this coffee, there will only ever be a select amount from this family. As they are small producers they struggle to sell in the mainstream market Makicuna makes this possible for them and these relationships is what Noni's Coffee Roasters is all about.
A bit about Aida Ponce by Makicuna. Aida is a small grower from the coffee producing region of La Perla. Her plantation is her small back garden, decorated with colourful pots and flowers and well looked after coffee trees all around. This is a very sweet plantation which Aida looks after every day.
Her annual harvest is around 150 to 200 Kg in parchment and she processes the coffee at her brother’s finca only a few minutes walk from hers.
La Perla, located 2 hours north west from Quito, is well known for coffee production and this is now its biggest crop, taking over from sugar cane. The climate here has been challenging in the last 2 year due to prolonged rainy season, thick mists which led to the quick spread of fungi.