RESERVE: OAK BARREL TYPICA ECUADOR

Hacienda La Papaya is owned and operated by Juan Peña, who is perhaps Ecuador’s most famous emerging specialty coffee farmer. Juan has won 3 consecutive Sprudgie Notable Producer awards recognizing Hacienda La Papaya as a top-quality coffee producer. Juan is a multi-generation farmer, but he’s relatively new to coffee: A former long-stem-rose producer, he started experimenting with coffee in 2010, after disastrous weather wiped out his flower fields.

Turning his energy entirely to coffee, Juan has worked to develop as healthy, hardy, and horticulturally intentional a farm as possible, with a very well-nurtured plant nursery and a “garden of inputs” on the property. The “inputs garden” shows Juan’s dedication to science and methodical experimentation. He has coffee trees planted several yards apart and labeled with the fertilizer inputs they receive to track the impact of the nutrients on growth and cherry development. Juan grows several varieties on this land and actively engages with processing experiments. His farming is meticulous, scientific, curious, and giving. He provides neighbors and farmworkers space in his nursery, along with seedlings, so that they can develop plots of their own.

Four years ago, Hacienda La Papaya began by placing freshly harvested cherries in containers. After understanding the fermentation processes, Juan experimented in barrels that held rum for 20 years. The final product is achieved by placing fresh-picked cherries into the oak barrels, where they ferment for five days in a closed, controlled, and monitored environment. With the help of microorganisms, the cherries undergo some changes and absorb the aromas and flavors around them. For these changes to occur, the barrels must remain in dark rooms at temperatures below 18 ° Celsius. Temperature and humidity sensors warn of any anomaly during the process. After leaving the barrels, the cherries go to the drying rooms for 28 to 30 days.

The final cup packs fruit punch-like aromas and distinctive flavors such as passion fruit, wine, mandarin, and chocolate ganache. Juan Peña and his estate, Hacienda La Papaya, are a stellar example of what good farming practices and excellent processing can do to coffee. This is a limited offering, so be sure to experience the science behind Juan’s farming before it’s gone!

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