Ecuador
Eladio Chamba

Eladio and Francisca switched to coffee production in 2002 after a successful trial with 100 trees. This cup is bright and crisp, with notes of strawberry, raspberry, and red apple.

Washed process Bourbon

Flavour: strawberry, red apple, raspberry

Body: Acidity:

Roast: omni (filter + espresso)

The southern province of Loja (Ecuador) has a mountainous region named Gonzanama. In these hills, Eladio and his wife have a 10-hectare farm, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, where they live with their youngest son, Roberto. They have four more children: Lorena, Maria Fernanda, Maria Isabel and Carlos (who is a coffee roaster!).

He bought the farm in 1997 and, alongside his wife, started a pig farm. In 2002, they discussed the option of starting to grow coffee. He built a nursery with 100 trees of Caturra, which eventually were planted and thrived—they decided to switch entirely to coffee production. Today, they also grow sugar cane and citrus trees.

Eladio, Roberto and Francisca

He initially processed his coffee through natural process (known in Ecuador as “bola” coffee) and sold it at local markets. But, in 2015, he decided to try washed process after it was recommended by neighbouring producers. The higher quality of his coffee allowed him to sell to the global specialty market, so he never looked back and stayed focus on high quality varieties and processing.

Eladio has introduced better farm managing processes to preserve the environment and achieve organic production (though they don’t hold any official certification yet). The biggest challenge is the drought periods during summer; when it doesn’t rain enough, he has to buy water to run the washed process.

The process

Eladio begins the coffee process by manually selecting and picking the ripe cherries. Then, they go into the wet mill, where they are sorted and floated to remove the defective ones and any small branches. Later, the cherries are pulped with some water and placed inside airtight plastic containers for 30 hours (without water).

Then, the coffee is washed 3 times and taken to the covered drying beds, where it will take from 25 to 30 days to reach its ideal moisture percentage. During that time, the coffee is moved several times daily for even drying.

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Bourbon coffee beans, provided by Caravela and roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

1:3
dose:yield
ratio

To brew on espresso, we recommend using 20g of beans (dose) to get 60g of espresso out (yield), during 24-28 seconds.

g dose

g yield

View the how to brew espresso (single origin) guide.

1:16.7
beans:water
ratio

To brew in infusion/fed brewers (V60, Chemex) use a ratio of 1:16.7 ratio of beans:water.

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:14.3
beans:water
ratio

To brew in immersion brewers (plunger, AeroPress, Kalita, batch brewer) we recommend using a 1:14.3 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:12
beans:water
ratio

To brew as cold brew we recommend using a 1:12 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

Producer: Eladio Gonzalo Chamba Herrera
Farm/Coop: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Country: Ecuador
Region: Loja
Altitude: 2055m above sea level
Varietals: Bourbon
Process: washed
Harvested: October 2023
Body
Acidity
Tasting notes: Strawberry, red apple, raspberry
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Varietals

Bourbon varietal

A natural mutation of the Typica varietal, Bourbon is named after Reunion Island (then known as Il Bourbon) where the French cultivated the Typica plants which naturally mutated.

The location

Coffee from Ecuador

For a long time most of Ecuador’s coffee production was for commodity grade export or the production of soluble coffees (freeze dried coffee). Only in the last few years has the potential of the country’s coffee production been really explored. We’re very excited about the potential Ecuador and have some truly exceptional coffees

The Loja region of Ecuador

Mountainous southern region with conditions suited perfectly to high quality coffee production

Farm processes

Washed process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.