Giomar - Espresso from Ecuador

Taste:

Nougat, hazelnut liqueur, fruity chocolate, wild berries

Origin of beans:

Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, Loreto, Orellana, Ecuador

Producers:

WITOCA Cooperative

Varieties:

Napo Payamino, 100% Robusta

Post-harvest process:

120h fermentation in barrels, then dried in the cherry

Cultivation philosophy:

Agroforestry system. In the native Chakra cultivation method, they forego external inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides and protect the rainforest. 

All our coffees are sold as whole beans.

How we prepare the coffee

The slow pre-infusion by the vibration pump is good for the coffee. If you have the possibility to influence flow or pressure, you can try a slow puck wetting of 12-13 seconds.

However, we achieved great results with the standard 9 bar profile. With a beverage ratio of 1:2.3/1:2.4 and an extraction time of 26-29 seconds, we get a superbly structured cup where the acidity and sweetness are very harmonious. For a Robusta, this coffee has a very complex acidity, accompanied by a full-bodied and very smooth texture.

If you pull the coffee for 31-33 seconds with the same brew ratio, you lose a little of the compact structure but gain even more body and a pleasant bitterness.

Why does the coffee taste the way it does?

The WITOCA cooperative specializes in special processing methods. Besides washed Canephoras, they produce many Honeys and increasingly Naturals – though the high humidity in the Amazon region places high demands on post-harvest processes. The Naturals, coffees dried in the cherry like this one, can be produced by WITOCA in August and September, as there is hardly any rain then. The fermentation of over 120 hours in a sealed barrel gives the coffee its berry aroma.

This Natural of the Canephora variety Napa Payamino has convinced us. This variety is a local clone and produces very large beans. The coffee itself brings a good deal of acidity, and the intense post-harvest process gives the coffee its berry and chocolate notes.

Why did we buy this coffee?

Giomar Hidalgo, or simply Gio, roasted and served coffee, and now she imports it from her home country Ecuador. The WITOCA Cooperative in the Amazon is a small cooperative that Gio co-founded. They source coffee from 13 families who all cultivate using the agroforestry system, meaning between already existing trees. In the native Chakra cultivation method, they forego external inputs and protect the rainforest.

This coffee shows like hardly any other how the often-maligned Canephora (Robusta) can taste when the same precision and philosophy as with top Arabicas are applied. It demonstrates the diversity of coffee and teaches us all to re-evaluate learned tastes.

How do we roast this coffee?

We roast the Napa Payamino from WITOCA in a 15kg batch, so with a bit more coffee than we would roast a filter coffee, but with less coffee than we roast other complex espressos (20kg). Why? Because we prefer a quick roast for Canephoras. Canephoras contain twice as much chlorogenic acid and break down into caffeic and quinic acid during the roasting process, which can lead to more bitterness in longer and hotter roasts. Through short roasting with a lower final temperature, we retain the naturally occurring freshness in the coffee and focus on the velvety texture.