Damasio comes from a long line of coffee producers; he is the third generation and has been working with coffee since 1988 when he was just 23 years old. He remembers how his grandfather and father, from whom he learned, used to produce a type of natural coffee known in Ecuador as “cafĂ© bola.” Damasio was the first in his family to start pulping and washing coffee. It was in 2023 when he sold coffee to Caravela for the first time that he knew he had good-quality coffee. This was a huge motivation for him, as it confirmed that his effort was paying off, and he was meeting his objectives of providing a better quality of life for his family with improved earnings. In recent years, he has implemented new varieties focused on quality and implemented good shade management.
At his farm, El LimĂłn, he lives with Carmen Maruja, his wife, and children. Damasio decided to name the farm El LimĂłn because it was the name of the sector where it is located in the parroquia (township) of San Antonio de las Aradas. With this new focus on quality, Damasio wants to improve his drying area. Currently, he has some raised beds which he covers with a plastic tarp when drying the coffee. He is very eager and willing to put in the effort to achieve better things. For his process, Damasio starts by picking the ripe cherries, which are taken to the wet mill at the farm. There, they are floated to remove any defective ones, after which the cherries are pulped. Subsequently, the coffee is fermented for 12 to 15 hours with water in an air-sealed tank. When finished, the coffee is taken to the drying area, where it will take approximately 18 days, depending on the climate, to reach its desired level of humidity.
All the images and information about this coffee and its producers have been kindly shared by the importer, Caravela, and edited by us, Sample Coffee (unless linked to or credited otherwise).
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