LAS TERRAZAS DEL PISQUE

COUNTRY: Ecuador

FARM/COOP/STATION: Las Terrazas del Pisque

VARIETAL: Pacamara

PROCESSING: Natural

ALTITUDE: 2000 m.a.s.l.

PRODUCER: Arnaud Causse

REGION: Pichincha

HARVEST MONTHS: May - October

FLAVOUR NOTES: Rosehip, white tea, cereal, redcurrant, peanuts

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Arnaud Causse is first and foremost a man of challenges. For several decades, his passion for coffee has taken him to the 4 corners of the world: Kenya, Costa Rica, Gabon, etc. He has also developed projects in El Salvador and the Galapagos Islands.

Immersed in the quest for excellence, he set up the Las Tolas farm, planting coffee trees in the heart of a natural forest. Then, after a spell in the Dominican Republic in Colombia and Peru, still working on coffee, Arnaud returned to Ecuador and founded Las Terrazas del Pisque, a farm in the middle of the desert.

ABOUT THE COFFEE

The best way to integrate coffee trees into a forest? By creating the forest yourself. Las Terrazas del Pisque is a farm in the middle of the desert, a complete ecosystem created from scratch in the middle of an arid desert zone.

Recognizable by its large oval beans, here you can taste this natural Pacamara produced in the shade of around twenty species of shade tree, in a natural process. Arnaud's natural coffees dry in the sun during the day, before being put away each evening for 3 to 4 weeks.

ABOUT THE FARM

Located on the Pacific side of the Andes, Las Terrazas del Pisque relies on the 25 species of trees (ingas, acacias, lemon trees, avocado trees, etc.) planted by Arnaud to provide shade.

Arnaud uses no pesticides and treats his coffee trees with tagetes, lavender and rosemary essential oils that he produces himself. Las Terrazas is a veritable micro-ecosystem. Melliferous plants such as tagetes, lemon balm, oregano and lavender are used both to produce essential oils and to attract bees for honey production.

Legumes supply the farm and also fix nitrogen in the soil. As for the fruit trees, they provide an ideal habitat for birds, which in return eat the fruit fly larvae. The farm is managed on a day-to-day basis by Wilson, an agricultural engineer with a strong sense of sustainable agriculture.

COFFEE IN ECUADOR

Since the 1860’s, Ecuadorian coffee has been grown in the Manabi province on the coastal lowlands. Ecuador was in the right place at the right time to profit from the coffee boom, when as many as 2 million sacks per year were exported little by little from Manta port to the European market. This coincided with the cocoa boom which transformed many coastal land owners into millionaires.

Sadly the boom times could not last. Coffee prices plummeted during the global coffee crisis of the 1980’s and 90’s, when competitors like Vietnam flooded the market with an over-supply of cheap, lower quality robusta coffee. What was once such an important export product for Ecuador, went into a long period of decline, as land owners rotated into more profitable agricultural crops.

Fortunately, today we are witnessing something of a re-birth for Ecuadorian grown coffee. So what has changed? Contemporary coffee consumer trends are developing, bringing high quality, complex flavors back to the fore. Coffee drinkers are seeking out new and unique coffee experiences from around the world – coffee with an authentic story to tell. That’s exactly what Ecuador is bringing to the table.

Where Does Ecuador's Best Coffee Grow?

The country’s generous equatorial climate makes all year round harvest possible, with both Arabica and Robusta coffee beans grown from sea level up to altitudes of 2000 meters.

Ecuador is a wonderfully biodiverse country, boasting many different ecosystems and micro climates suited to coffee cultivatation. The combination of regular rainfall, rich volcanic soils, gentle shade and pure water sources are found across much of the country. The most common coffee varieties cultivated are Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Sidra

The best Ecuadorian coffee tends to grow in the following regions:

1. Lowland Coastal region: Manabi, Guayas and El Oro provinces produce more than half of Ecuador’s total coffee output.

2. Northern highlands: Pichincha, Imbabura and Carchi provinces. The Intag Valley in particular is recognised for excellent Arabica coffee with a balance of acidity, sweetness and bitterness.

3. Southern highlands: Loja, Azuay and Zamora Chinchipe provinces arguably produce Ecuador’s finest specialty altitude coffee. Loja is famous for Arabica coffee with defined acidity, medium sweetness and a delicate aroma.

4. Rainforest: Napo & Orellana provinces. The Amazon region produces mostly Robusta coffee used to process instant coffee.

5. Galapagos Coffee: The fertile volcanic soils on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal islands produce a well balanced and less acidic coffee that is popular with Galapagos tourists, and has even hit Starbucks stores.

Ecuador coffee has a great range of flavors and aromas. If you detect fruity notes or delicate hints of flowers or chocolate in Ecuador’s coffee then it’s no accident. Ecuador is also famous for producing cacao, bananas, mangoes, citrus fruit, sugarcane, avocados (from which they produce Avocado oil), rice and a dizzying variety of tropical fruits. Coffee beans are often planted alongside these other crops for shade, which creates interesting flavor crossovers.

Contemporary Ecuadorian Coffee Trends

An emerging middle class in Ecuador has led to changing tastes and consumer habits. Rather than drinking the cheapest available coffee by default, increasing numbers of locals are seeking out more intense flavors served by baristas in cafes with a more engaging ambiance. The same can be said for Ecuador craft beer and chocolate, with Ecuadorians willing to pay more for a higher quality product. Ecuador is in the midst of a flavor revolution.

As demand for quality Ecuadorian coffee grows, so too agricultural and production processes are adapting and developing. More and more coffee excellence micro lots are being offered into the Ecuadorian market, so coffee shops and bar staff in Ecuador can improve the quality of the raw materials they receive, and create better experiences for locals and tourists to enjoy.

The focus is very much on small-scale family farms rather than mass production. Today, around 100,000 families are involved in the coffee production process, typically farming just 1 to 10 hectares each. To be able to charge prime prices requires a high-quality product, so these families are learning to use finer processing techniques, such as organic methods for insecticides and pesticides during growth.

Coffee processing techniques have also come a long way since the early days. The bulk of Ecuador’s coffee beans used to be exported for roasting and processing overseas, but that is no longer the case. A renewed sense of national pride in Ecuadorian coffee has led to investment and education in production techniques, so today the whole process from harvest to cup can happen in Ecuador.

While it is still early days for Ecuador’s coffee re-birth, the signs are promising. Production levels are increasing, and quality has grown to the extent that the winning Ecuador coffee at Taza Dorada in 2018 was auctioned at $29 a pound becaming the highest price ever paid for a locally grown coffee. But in our opinion the best news is that now some of Ecuador’s coffee stays in the country for local consumption - which of course is a plus for Ecuadorians and foreign visitors alike.