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Elegant, silky, perfumed. Citrus, honey, floral. An incredible honey processed coffee by Verena Blasser and Henry Gaibor from their farm, Finca Maputo in the Pichincha province of Ecuador. The farm sits between 1300 and 1400 MASL in the western foothills of the Andes. Its unique climate surrounded by protected cloud forests make it an ideal place to produce high quality coffees.
We sourced this coffee with Makicuna, an exporter we've been wanting to work with for a while, and we couldn't be more excited to showcase this absolute worldy.
Finca Maputo was named after the city where Verena and Henry met for the first time when they were working for Doctors without Borders in Mozambique. After many years of work in West Africa, the couple moved to Ecuador, Henry's home country, where they opened a clinic just north of Quito. It was soon after moving back to Ecuador that Verena and Henry started taking interest in growing coffee, and after the clinic was well established in 2011 they began with their coffee venture. Maputo is now one of the best exponents of Specialty coffee in the country. Verena and Henry have inspired many people to begin producing coffee, their methodical approach to farming has earned them recognition in the national and international market having won many prices in Taza Dorada and Cup of Excellence. The farm is located on the western foothills of the Andes, 2 hours North West from Quito. It sits between 1300 and 1500m and it’s surrounded by protected cloud forests. The climate here is very humid and rainfall is very high, making it a challenge when the drying process takes place or when producing Honeys. This is why at Maputo uses a mechanic heat dryer to make sure the right humidity is reached before stabilisation. Maputo is divided in 3 main plots; first one is Maputo which is the land that surrounds Verena and Henry’s house as well as the washing, pulping and drying stations. Then there is Hakuna Matata, which was acquired at a more recent date. And last there is Rancho Tio Emilio which is owned by Henry’s Brother but managed by Henry and Verena.
Processing
An initial selection of cherries through flotation is carried out as soon as the cherries arrive at the farm's wet mill. Then, the cherries are placed in tanks to ferment for 24 hours. After this, the cherries are pulped, leaving all the mucilage attached to the parchment. The coffee is now laid onAfrican beds inside polytunnels where the beans are constantly moved to achieve a homogenous drying process. The coffee rests here until humidity reaches 18%.
A final stage of drying happens inside a mechanical drying chamber, where coffee dries until humidity reaches 11%. This chamber is used because the humidity in the environment is usually very high, making it too difficult to reach the desired humidity to stabilise the coffee. Before being ready for export the parchment coffee is placed inside GrainPro bags to stabilise for 6 to 8 weeks.
To get the best from your coffee please take a look at our brew guides HERE