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This year I had the privilege of being part of the international jury for Ecuador’s most important coffee competition: La Taza Dorada. This is a competition where coffee producers submit samples of their coffee, and a national jury preselects the top 40 coffees. The international jury then repeats the tasting and selects the top 20 (three rounds of cuppings). The coffees are then auctioned online, with the purpose of fetching the producers a high price and some international recognition. The coffees this year were awesome, but there was one producer that really impressed me: Galo Morales. The main reason his coffee impressed me is that he submitted three lots for the competition and all three were in the top 10 for me. His top lot was ranked #2, while his other two were #11 and #12. This kind of prolific consistency is very hard for a producer to achieve!
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In the end, we purchased the lot #11. It’s an anaerobically honey process of two varieties: Sidra and Typica. I didn’t get a chance to meet Galo when I was in Ecuador, but I did speak with him on the phone after the competition and got to learn a bit about his farm. I will be back in Ecuador later this year and will for sure visit him!
His farm is called Finca Cruz Loma, and is operated by Galo and his wife, Maria Alexandra Rivera.
Finca Cruz Loma is setting the standard for coffees from the Pichincha region of Ecuador.
Galo is very proud of his careful and attentive processing. Coffee cherries are washed clean before fermenting in anaerobically sealed tanks for 48 hours. The coffee is then de-pulped and set to ferment in anaerobic tanks once again. After this multi-day process, the coffee is dried with its mucilage on raised beds under shaded canopies.
Finca Cruz Loma is a relatively large farm near San José de Minas, a small town in the northwestern part of Pichincha, near Quito. The farm has been in Galo’s family for almost 80 years! Galo’s journey with coffee began 20 years ago working with his mother on the farm.
Ecuador is a super cool coffee origin, with tons of history and an exciting future. The coffees are so delicious, complex, fruity, floral, and immaculately processed. I was blown away by the coffee producers: they are at the forefront of processing innovation, and the results are clearly visible in the cup. The coffees are complex, juicy, clean and keep me wanting more.
This green coffee was frozen on arrival in Calgary, to preserve freshness.
- Sebastian
