The story
Ecuador sits between Colombia and Peru, two of the best-known coffee countries in South America, yet its own coffee is far less familiar. According to the importer Cafe Imports, coffee arrived in the middle of the 1800s and was first planted in Manabí, a low, humid coastal province. Manabí still grows roughly half of the country's Arabica, but most of it is lower-grade coffee. Coffee only became a serious business in the late 1920s, when disease hit the cacao trade, and production fell sharply during the price slumps of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Coffee Review describes a country that has moved away from coffee as a main export. It says Ecuador now produces about 40 percent of what it did in 1990, and that oil, shrimp, bananas and instant coffee took priority. A large instant-coffee industry buys cheap coffee, including Robusta imported from Vietnam, because local harvests do not cover its needs.
Ecuador is one of a few countries that grows both of the world's traded coffee species. The Ecuadorian newspaper Primicias, citing national statistics, says about 55 percent of output is Arabica, grown in provinces such as Manabí, Loja, Pichincha and Imbabura, and about 45 percent is Robusta, grown mainly in the Amazon provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos. Most of the Robusta goes into instant coffee.
The specialty side is small but growing. From the 2000s, inspired by the specialty boom in Colombia and northern Peru, some farmers began planting better Arabica varieties, picking only ripe cherries and processing more carefully. The exporters' association ANECAFE runs a quality competition, the Taza Dorada (Golden Cup), to reward small lots, Coffee Review notes.
Coffee Review names two regions as best known for specialty coffee:
- Loja, in the far south on the Peru border, the more traditional high-altitude region. The roaster Driftaway puts its farms at about 1,000 to 2,000 metres and says many Taza Dorada finalists come from there.
- Pichincha, north of the capital, Quito. Cafe Imports says it was the first company to export specialty coffee from Pichincha, in 2012. Driftaway gives its altitude as about 1,000 to 1,800 metres, with many first-generation farmers.
Cafe Imports also lists Carchi, El Oro, Manabí, Zamora-Chinchipe and the Galápagos Islands. Driftaway describes Zamora-Chinchipe, in the south near Peru, as lower than Loja at about 800 to 1,800 metres, with small family farms, some certified organic. Coffee is also grown on the Galápagos, at only about 300 to 400 metres, where high humidity makes quality hard.
Growing coffee on the equator brings its own problems. Cafe Imports explains that there is no single harvest season: one branch can carry flowers, green fruit and ripe cherries at the same time, so picking goes on all year and labour costs rise. Small shifts in climate, such as all-day fog that stops coffee drying on patios, can hit quality hard.
How it's processed
A coffee bean is the seed inside a fruit called a cherry. After picking, the fruit has to come off and the seed has to be dried.
For much of Ecuador's lower-grade coffee, the traditional method is café en bola: the cherries are left to dry, often on the tree, and the whole dried fruit is sold. Coffee Review says this careless natural processing is the norm for coffee bound for instant-coffee factories.
Specialty coffee is different. Coffee Review says most specialty lots are washed: small farmers remove the fruit, ferment the beans and rinse them on the farm, much as in Peru. Some specialty growers are now making carefully controlled natural coffees, dried with the fruit on, and Cafe Imports lists some honey and other experimental processes as well.
Mills are scarce. Driftaway reported in 2016 that only about 15 percent of Ecuador's coffee was washed, partly because there were few mills, and that many naturals were not sorted, which kept their grade low. That figure is now dated.
Varieties matter here too. Cafe Imports lists Bourbon, Typica, Caturra and Sidra as common. Coffee Review calls Typica the traditional mainstay and notes that at least one grower has planted SL28, a Kenyan variety. Driftaway says farmers in Carchi grow the Colombian varieties Colombia and Castillo, which resist leaf rust.
What it tastes like
Coffee Review says the traditional Ecuadorian cup resembles the classic cup from Peru, though it adds that this style is fading as small lots become more distinctive. It says the lots show off both their growing place and traditional varieties like Typica.
Sidra is the variety drawing the most attention. Cafe Imports describes it as a cross of Bourbon and Typica that can show unusually fruity and floral character when grown high and processed with care. Coffee Review calls it rare and sweet-cupping, and notes research suggesting it may in fact be an Ethiopian landrace. The two sources disagree on its origin.
Because the country mixes Robusta, low-grown naturals and small high-altitude specialty lots, there is no single Ecuador flavour. The tasting notes on each coffee are a better guide than any country-wide rule.