Position Spot
Bags 9
Warehouses Oakland
Flavor Profile Apple cider, lemon, black tea, fennel, dark chocolate
Lomas Obando Family | Finca La Perla Chiquita
1350 masl
Typica mejorada
Volcanic loam
Nanegal, Pichincha Province, Ecuador
Washed after depulping and fermenting in sealed tanks, then dried on raised beds under shaded canopy
June - September
Conventional
Finca La Perla Chiquita (“The Little Pearl”) is a 1-hectare farm in the top of Ecuador’s Pichincha Province, a short trip north of Quito. Nanegal municipality, while only about 10 air miles from Quito, is very rural, and has a uniquely warmer and more humid climate than Ecuador’s capital city. The principal harvest months in northern Pichincha are June to September, but farms often continue picking through December. Ecuador’s namesake position on the Earth’s equator means that medium-altitude coffee enjoys practically a perfect year-round growing season, often with flowering and ripe cherry sharing the same branch most months.
Fabian Lomas and his family manage La Perla Chiquita. The farm was planted only half with coffee for many years until 2008, when the family decided to convert the entire plot to coffee. With the success they’ve had thus far selling coffee, the family plans to increase the business: currently the goal is 2 hectares of coffee and a family home closer to the farm. They already have the nursery built.
Harvest involves the whole family, as well as 10 hired pickers. All cherry picked is depulped the same day and left to ferment between 20 to 26 hours, washed in fresh water, and then dried on raised beds under canopy.