Crown Jewel Ecuador San José de Minas Galo Morales Double Anaerobic Fermented & Washed – 1 Lb

Coffee Background

Have you ever paused to think about all of the amazing origin countries that the equator passes through? The most obvious, Ecuador, might not be the first to come to mind. Ecuador is one of the more elusive origins, likely the result of a high cost of production, which makes it more difficult to compete in a global market. A producer’s survival here depends on an ability to make a premium to cover the higher costs of labor. This is the strategy taken by Galo Fernando Morales Flores, who cultivates coffee, sugar cane, guanábana (soursop), corn, beans, and oranges on a 175-acre farm called Finca Cruz Loma. His focus is quality, which was recognized with a first-place finish in the 2019 Best of Quito-Pichincha coffee competition. Galo starts the process with meticulous cherry harvesting and floating to remove under ripe and damaged beans. Next, he ferments the coffee in cherry for 90 hours before depulping the coffee and fermenting with water for another 12 hours so that he can then wash the coffee to remove the mucilage. After the coffee is washed, he dries it on raised beds in the shade for three days and then in the sun for another 15 days to gently bring the moisture down to 11 percent. The finished parchment is stored in grainpro bags until it is time to mill and export. Galo is currently working on building a cupping lab where he hopes to further investigate strategies for improving quality and training other producers on how to produce specialty coffee.