Crown Jewel Ecuador Saraguro Juan Peña Raised Bed Washed CJ1514 – 30032 – SPOT RCWHSE

Position Spot

Boxes 0

Warehouses Oakland

Flavor Profile Raspberry, grape, floral, caramel

Out of stock

Overview 

This is a traditional washed coffee from Loja, Ecuador, produced by Juan Peña on his farm, Hacienda La Papaya. 

The flavor profile is subtle but clearly floral, with notes of raspberry, passionfruit, honeysuckle, and caramel. 

Our roasters found a delicate approach and lower end temperature helped to tease out nuance. 

When brewed, our baristas noted higher TDS pour-overs on a Beehouse brewer yielded elegant floral notes and the decadence of browned butter. Espresso extraction lifted the fruit notes and heightened the acidity, making a far less subtle experience on bar. 

 

Taste Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Traditional washed Typica selections from Hacienda la Papaya are frequently described as Ethiopia-like due to their uniquely delicate texture and the prominence of floral flavors. Juan Peña has gone to great lengths to verify and preserve the integrity of this legacy cultivar on his farm; the result is one of the clearest expressions of “Typica flavor” paired with the grace and elegance of southern Ecuador’s gifted terroir, particularly that of the high elevation and beneficial climates on Peña’s farm. 

I’m particularly fond of how understated this coffee is this year. In the midst of a season of bombastic entries like our Galaxy Hopped Gesha, as well as the sibling Anaerobic Typica Jewel from La Papaya, it’s especially refreshing to have a coffee that’s so easy to savor without being so obvious about begging for your attention. 

Subtle passionfruit, mild mango, and honeydew melon notes round out the edges of the coffee, which centers around floral, caramel, and very gentle but clear raspberry notes. Evan’s Bullet roast pulled out some very unique spice flavors like fresh turmeric, while Doris’ Diedrich trial produced an elegant honeysuckle flavor. 

Let the coffee sit with you for a while and enjoy how it opens as it cools. It’s a little bit of a sleeper hit, and not to be underestimated. 

 

Source Analysis by Chris Kornman with contributions from Mayra Orellana Powell and Phillip Smith 

Our second season importing coffee from Juan Peña and his farm Hacienda la Papaya brings with it the inevitable return of his unparalleled coffees to our Crown Jewel menu, including this traditional washed Typica. 

Peña’s reputation for crafting exceptional coffees precedes him. He holds three “Sprudgie” Notable Producer awards, a degree in agronomy, and maintains an agreement with Cuenca’s University for research and development, in addition to having his coffees regularly featured on the global competition stages. Hacienda la Papaya boasts consecutive annual top three placements in brewers, baristas, and/or roasters championships in the US circuit beginning in 2016. 

The farm, Hacienda La Papaya, is just 28 acres in size but benefits from high elevation and good microclimates. Located 20km away from Saraguro toward the Andes, the project started in 2009 with planting in 2010, and now more than a decade later employs 7 permanent workers with an additional 40 seasonal workers during peak harvest, most of whom use the formal employment (of which there is little in the rural agricultural zone) to support their families. 

Beyond the farm, Peña has established an export company, CafExporto, to manage the dry milling, quality control, export logistics, and marketing efforts. The direct line from farm to port allows for a high degree of transparency and control, and has facilitated a wider network of neighboring farms, both large and micro-scale to begin gaining access to specialty coffee export market opportunities. 

Peña considers Hacienda la Papaya not only a Centro de Producción, but also a center of investigation with disciplinary teams such as agronomics, baristas, and cacao farmers. “We experiment with chemistry and I’m pretty sure that we have the best quality control, with sensors on harvest, developing of fertilizer, and drying rooms” he says. 

Peña’s passion for research has helped him unlock the potential for quality with different varieties and processing methods. This lot is an example of careful selection of the Typica variety and a traditional washed processing method resulting in a bright and super clean cup profile. After carefully harvesting cherries, depulping, fermenting for 15 hours, and gently drying on raised beds the coffee is moved to CafExporto, which provides crucial logistical support for things like warehousing, quality control and preparing coffee for export to the international market. 

 

Green Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Unsurprisingly Juan Peña has delivered a precisely processed and prepared green coffee for us. With low moisture, and a fairly tight screen size distribution of 16-18, roasters should have little to worry about here. 

The density readings look somewhat average via free settling in our narrow graduated cylinder (reflecting the oblong shape of the Typica cultivar) but in the larger volume digital readout from the Sinar shows to be quite high. The takeaway is to treat this coffee as a high density bean in most scenarios, but to account for the bean shape particularly in smaller spaces (such as in an Ikawa roaster). Note that longberry type seeds are at slightly higher risk for tipping and scorching as well. I usually default to gentler heat application at charge and after first crack as a result. 

Hacienda la Papaya’s trees have been genetically tested by World Coffee Research and Peña maintains distinct groves of “mother” trees exclusively for seed propagation to preserve the genetic integrity of the daughter populations. Typica was the world’s first global cultivar, brought by the Dutch to Java in the last decade of the 17th century from western India (where it arrived from Yemen nearly a century before). It would go on to populate colonial coffee holdings throughout most of the world and dominate production until the closely-related Bourbon variety appeared on the world coffee scene in the 19th century. Typica is often recognized for its long leaf and seed shape, tall spindly tree appearance, and relatively low yields compared to other commercially grown cultivars. 

 

Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido  

This is my second year roasting Juan Peña Coffees, and I have been amazed by the quality of his work, and the detail of his processes since then. You can taste all the dedicated work he has put into it, from growing the plant to drying the seeds. And here I going to share how my first roast went. 

In this coffee, you can find a lot of florals, I have it cupped a few times by now and it reminds me of a great Ethiopian. It has a tart acidity like berries and a delicate sweetness, highly enjoyable cup of coffee.  

I charged the coffee at 417.1F with 30% gas and added 100% before the first minute. At 2:20 minutes I started lowering to 70%, then 45%, and then 30%, just before yellowing. At 306F color change started happening. At 336F started using the air, the first 50%, and just before the first crack I added 100%. At 8 minutes of the roast, I marked the first crack at 380F. I let it run for about 45 seconds and dropped the burners to 0%, that way I ended the roast with 1:21 minutes of post-development and at 391.2F  

On the cupping table, this coffee tasted clean, floral, with pleasant acidity especially as it cooled, honeysuckle sweetness, lime, melon, mild mango, subtle passionfruit, understated but really tasty. On my personal cupping notes was all of that but low, low tart acidity, low florals — in general low flavor. I feel like I washed the intensity of the flavors. The coffee was tasty but I knew that there was more. And I was right. I tasted the Bullet roast of Evan Gilman, and the Ikawa roast, and all of them ended with a bit more intensity on the flavors. Personally, I would pick the Low-density profile on the Ikawa, just because it showcases the complexity of the flavor and honors Juan Peña’s excellent work. I still have some more of this coffee and for my next try, I’ll be looking to stretch Maillard, and I will approach the roast a little more gently. 

 

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

 

Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below.  

Generally, we have good results starting our 500g roasts with 428F preheating, P6 power, F2 fan, and d6 drum speed. Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing! 

Blessed again by one of the less common origins! This washed coffee from green coffee star Juan Peña boasted a more delicate and complex flavor profile than I was initially expecting. As Isabella notes below: if you’re not initially impressed, keep on tasting and give this coffee some time.  

I wanted to try my hand at a faster roast weighted toward the Green/Drying phase in order to really counter the fresh green coffee taste I got our initial selection table. This coffee also has some sneaky florals to tease out, and I didn’t want to give it too much Post-Crack development that could end up ruining the delicate floweriness.  

Starting with 437F as I have been lately, I kept this roast at P9 power and F2 fan until peak RoR, decreasing first to P8, followed by an adjustment up to F3 for more airflow. At Yellowing, I reduced heat to P7, but didn’t make any further moves until 361F / 5:45 when I reduced again to P6 and pushed fan to F4. I wanted to squish any peak in RoR, but the gambit didn’t play out and I saw a healthy spike at about 385F / 7:38, just after crack. I pulled back further to P5, and spent about 30 seconds at F5 to really void some heat from the drum. This didn’t lead to a complete crash, thankfully, and I was able to get 1:45 Post-Crack development and a low but completely acceptable light roast drop temperature of 393F. Yes, I usually shoot higher, but I did want this to a be a delicate light roast. 

The spike in RoR had me thoroughly convinced that I ruined this roast, but my compatriots at the cupping table assured me otherwise. On the fragrance, we noted a faint note of cardamom that didn’t persist into the cup but was interesting anyhow. We tasted bright lemon and lime acidity, gentle florals, and a creamy texture verging on lactic notes as the coffee cooled. The texture was particularly notable to me since I’ve had a few typica coffees with this characteristic, specifically from Indonesia – and I really enjoy it. I’m looking forward to drinking this coffee repeatedly over the next few weeks! 

https://roast.world/@egilman/roasts/c6Ka-PobwpaAGMCyBHiEu 

 

 

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

The more I taste this coffee the more I fall in love. For me, this coffee has been a slow burn. I didn’t think much of this coffee first time around but the more I taste the more it opens up to new flavors that are sure to win any coffee lover’s heart. These two roasts display the versatility of this coffee nicely and leads us to a divisive stance on which profile leads us to a better tasting cup. Big thanks to Doris for helping with the analysis (as per usual).   

Our light density roast was first on the table and brought out floral notes, green tea, a tanginess and clean cup. The high density roast had notes of jam, peach tea, pomegranate and rose. It felt similar to an Ethiopian coffee but less intense. Doris preferred the light density roast as the flavor was a higher intensity and she enjoyed the floral notes. I thought that the sweetness was underdeveloped sort of like unripe mango although the floral notes were really lovely. For me, the high-density roast had a really nice sweetness to it and the pomegranate-rose combination sold me completely. The divisiveness in preference is a testament to the versatility and quality that Juan Peña’s coffees have been offering us. Whichever direction you take this coffee you are sure to fall in love, it’s a matter of how fast you will fall! Let us know your preference at thecrown@royalcoffee.com. We would love to hear your thoughts!  

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 

Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

 

Brew Analysis by Taylor Brandon 

We are excited to welcome the Ecuador Saraguro Juan Peña, as both a Crown Jewel and the newest addition to our pour over bar. This typica variety offers a clean crisp cup with loads of fruit and sun-powered flavor. The high quality of this coffee means that there is more room for fun and experimentation! Unlike previous analysis which begin with our baristas creating a hypothesis recipe, this analysis worked backward as it was previously dialed in for service at the pour over bar by our Tasting Room manager, Joshua Wismans. We found that our dialed in brew delivers customers flavors of tangy orchard fruit, berries, and hints of smooth caramel. Our dialed in recipe begins with a Bee House ceramic coffee dripper and 19 grams of coffee which is ground at 9.5 on our EK34. We employed our standard bloom measurement of 50g of water for 40s. This recipe gave us a TDS of 1.53 and an extraction yield of 19.97%. This was the highest TDS throughout our analysis and we found that this strength delivered delicate florals, milky caramels and decadent brown butter. 

For our next round we decided to keep the same recipes while switching to a F70 brewer and coarsening the grind to 10. The wide, flat base of the F70 is ideal for amping up the natural flavors of the coffee while remaining fresh and clean. This brew produced a TDS of 1.38 and an extraction yield of 20.12%. This brew packed a juicy punch with apple and grape juice flavors at the forefront. Strong florals rounded it out with a bit of savory macadamia nut.  

For our last brew we replicated that original recipe, taking our grind back to 9.5 and switching to the conical v60 brewer. The V60’s cone shape produces a consistent clean cup that is a barista favorite. This brew came in with a TDS of 1.44 and an extraction yield of 19.48%. The flavor profile presented a little funkier with tangy berries, fennel, and smoky cashews.  

As I mentioned earlier, our various brewing methods prove that this coffee is meant to be malleable and playful. A wide range of sweet, tropical and even savory flavors produce a worthy cup for Tasting Room newcomers and Crown pros. 

 

Espresso Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano  

Juan Peña’s farm Hacienda La Papaya has brought us Crown Jewel before. His farm is extremely well regarded and produces some brilliant coffees. This year is no different. On the cupping table this coffee is certainly more mellow than our recent additions but good none the less. The more I sit with it the more this coffee the more it grows on me in the same way tea grows on you. Although it is mellow slowly but surely the depth and complexity of tea opens up to your senses and you are able to really appreciate the intricacies of the subtle tea leaves. Coffee in general is not subtle. This washed Ecuador gives us a different appreciation for a high quality cup other than bold or wildly interesting. On the first round of cupping got notes of floral, lime, chamomile, lemongrass, melon, passion fruit, butter, soft citrus and tropical fruit. Although almost two weeks off roast this coffee performed better at a lower dose and higher coffee to water ratio.   

Recipe 1: 

In: 19g   

Out: 34g 

Seconds: 32  

I started off with 1:2 ratio off the bat. Always an easy place to start. This shot was sweet with some melon, cranberry and lemongrass flavors. This was a good shot, but the body was not where I wanted it to be. It had the tang but not the fullness of a balanced shot. I kept the next shot at 19 grams because of the age of the coffee and upped the coffee to water ratio. After playing with the next shot it opened up to walnut, cranberry sauce, grapefruit and dark chocolate notes. The cranberry was potent on this shot. Very sharp with a nice round body of a 85% dark chocolate bar (not to be too specific). The fullness was upped as I wanted it to be, but I was curious to see if I could get any of those subtler tea-like notes. 

Recipe 2: 

In: 18g 

Out: 32g  

Seconds: 29 

I went with lowering the dose just to see what would happen and keep it at the same ratio. Experimenting to see if I could nurture those lime and chamomile notes that were enjoyable on the first pass of this coffee. Cherry, butter, and cranberry, oh my! Imagine a red berry tart. The cranberry was incredibly forward. This coffee does not operate subtle on espresso. It makes for a very sweet cappuccino. The milk calmed down the tartness while bringing out some rose and pomegranate flavors. 

For me, this is a very red coffee – it tastes like what you imagine red to taste like. It has all of the red foods like pomegranate, rose, cranberry and cherry.  I played with the ratio some more and lowered the coffee to water ratio but this shot felt a little washed out and sour. This coffee on Doris’s analysis roast functions better at a higher coffee to water ratio. Reach out at thecrown@royalcoffee.com and let us know your thoughts once you try it out! The is the perfect addition to your repertoire. A cup that will keep any coffee enthusiast coming back for more.