Giomar – Robusta Espresso from Ecuador

100% Robusta, or Canephora of the Napo Payamino variety from the Amazon region of Ecuador. Produced by a small cooperative in the Chakra agroforestry system. Fermented in barrels and cherry-dried, it offers notes of nougat and wild berries with a creamy texture.

Giomar - Coffee Information

Taste: Nougat, Wild Berries, Creamy

Origin: Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, Loreto, Orellana, Ecuador

Producers: WITOCA Cooperative

Varieties: Napo Payamino, 100% Robusta

Post-harvest process: Fermentation for 120h in barrels, then dried in the cherry

Arrived at the roastery: February 2025

This is how we would prepare the Giomar

Our David developed and optimized the recipe with the following equipment:

Water : total hardness 5 °dH, alkalinity 3 °dH

Mill: Niche Zero

Grinding level: 9

Tell me more about Giomar's work

Giomar Hidalgo, or simply Gio, roasted and served coffee, and now imports it from her native Ecuador. The WITOCA cooperative in the Amazon is a small cooperative that Gio has been working with since the beginning. She enjoys the interaction and appreciates that the cooperative is run by women. WITOCA plants coffee in an agroforestry system, planting it among existing trees. Using the native Chakra cultivation method, they avoid external entrances and protect the rainforest. This natural of the Canephora variety Napa Payamino won us over. This variety is a local clone and produces very large beans. The coffee itself has a decent acidity, and the intensive post-harvest process gives the coffee its berry and caramel notes.

Why does coffee taste the way it does?

The WITOCA cooperative specializes in specific processing methods. In addition to washed canephoras, they produce many honeys and an increasing number of naturals. However, the high humidity in the Amazon region places stringent demands on the post-harvest processes. WITOCA can produce the naturals, which are found in the cherry-dried coffees like this one, in August and September, as it hardly rains then. Fermentation for 120 hours in a sealed barrel develops the coffee's berry aroma. It retains a fine base acidity and offers clean, walnut-like notes on the finish.

Why did we buy this coffee?

Because he demonstrates like no other how the often-maligned Canephora (Robusta) can taste when the same precision and philosophy as top Arabicas are applied. He demonstrates the diversity of coffee and teaches us all to reconsider our familiar tastes.

How do we roast these coffees?

We roast WITOCA's Napa Payamino in a 15kg batch, using slightly more coffee than we would roast a filter coffee, but less coffee than we roast other complex espressos (20kg). Why? Because we prefer a fast roast for Canephoras. Canephoras have twice the chlorogenic acid content and break down into caffeic and quinic acids during the roasting process, which can lead to more bitterness in longer, hotter roasts. By roasting for a short time and at a lower final temperature, we retain the coffee's naturally occurring freshness and focus on its velvety texture. We roast for 10 minutes 20 seconds with a development time of 1 minute 10 seconds.

Import Bean