Ecuador Oscar Proaño: Sample Coffee Roasters

Ecuador
Oscar Proaño

Washed process Typica

Flavour: orange juice, dark chocolate

Body: Acidity:

One of the aims of Brew Crew is discovering new coffees from different origins around the world, and with this delivery you’re enjoying the first coffee from Ecuador that we’ve shared.

Ecuador produces a mix of mostly arabica and some robusta, which is a more bitter species which is typically used in commodity blends and instant coffee. Ecuador’s total production in 2015 was around a million 60kg bags (the standard for measuring production), which is a smaller crop than Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

In fact, even if you combine those four countries, they’re still dwarfed by Ethiopia’s annual crop of 6 million bags, or Colombia’s 11.6 million.

This particular coffee comes from a farm called La Barbanera run by Oscar Proaño and his wife Flores Azucena, and it’s a farm that has been in the Azucena family for over 40 years.

Flores has a passion for quality and tends to the coffee plants, developing ways to improve their harvest. Oscar is a retired police officer who helps his wife manage the farm.

Caravela, our partners in Ecuador, worked with them to share the best methods for fertilisating the crop and benefits of slow drying the coffee. Since applying these new processes, Flores and Oscar have seen a great improvement in their crop’s quality, which is reflected by the higher value of their crop.

While coffee from the farm is the result of Flores’s work and has been in her family for 40 years, it is her husband’s name that is used in the documentation for this coffee. To help maintain the traceability of this coffee from farm to you, we’re following the same naming pattern.

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Typica 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: Oscar Proaño
Country: Ecuador
Region: Nanegal, Quito
Altitude: 1300m above sea level
Varietals: Typica
Process: Washed
Harvested: May 2016
Body: Medium
Acidity: Balanced
Tasting notes: Orange juice, dark chocolate
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Varietals

Typica varietal

Considered to be one of the ‘genus’ varietals from which all other varietals have mutated from

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 Zamora Chinchipe region of Ecuador

The region sits east of Loja with high rates of organic 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.

3 brew notes from subscribers

Ecuador Oscar Proaño

Matthew’s Cold Brew

Superb orange sweetness, akin to freshly squeezed orange juice. Add some actual chocolate beforehand to round out the fuller bodied flavours (dark is good but milk chocolate works just as well!).

64g
800ml
20h 0m

Full brew note

Ecuador Oscar Proaño

Jared’s Espresso

Grinding a touch finer brought out those chocolate flavours I was seeking. As it cooled, that bright orange flavour came through.

20g
45ml
30s

Full brew note

Ecuador Oscar Proaño

Jared’s Espresso

Lot's of acid coming through not a lot of the chocolate notes that were prominent in a v60. Might try grinding a little finer and reducing the shot time.