Ecuador - Pichincha Imbabura Chirimoya

This coffee is a blend of various small family farms from the Pichincha and Imbabura provinces, 150 hectares in total, sourced and curated by Galo and Maria Alexandra.

In Galo’s words, “Cultivating my coffee is an activity that allows me to apply and develop the skills and habits I’ve learned over the years; it’s also an essential resource for my family, since my wife, my daughters, and myself are all involved with the production and marketing of our coffee.
Everybody in the family has a critical role in the coffee’s success.”

Ecuador’s namesake position on the Earth’s equator means that medium-altitude coffee enjoys practically a perfect year-round growing season, often with flowering and ripe cherry sharing the same branch most months. Chirimoya is the title for the small-farm blend, in honor of the native and uniquely delicious fruit widely grown and consumed across the Andes.

Coffee to Water Ratio

Using the correct amount of coffee will ensure that your coffee is brewed to strength, without over-extracting or under-extracting the coffee to compensate for an inappropriate dose. We recommend 2 grams of coffee for every fluid ounce of water used to brew. Weighing coffee is the most accurate way to measure the appropriate dose. If a scale is not available, we recommend 2 heaping tablespoons of ground coffee for every 5 ounces of water used to brew.

Grind Size

Producing the correct particle size in ground coffee is one of the most important steps in coffee brewing. In general, a finer grind will produce a more intense brew and a coarser grind will produce a less intense brew. At the same time, a grind that is too fine will produce an over-extracted, astringent brew, and a grind that is too coarse will produce a weak, under-extracted brew lacking flavor. In pour-over methods, grind size also affects the rate of extraction, as water will pass more slowly through a finer grind, and more quickly through a coarser grind. We strongly recommend burr grinders over blade grinders.

Water Temperature and Quality

Water temperature dramatically affects the extraction of coffee’s flavor during brewing. We recommend brewing with water at 200° Fahrenheit for best results. Using fresh, clean, chlorine-free water is essential.