Ecuador – Finca Lugmapata, Anaerobic Washed Sidra

Tastes Like — starfruit ⭐️ • bartlett pear 🍐 • yogurt 🍶 • osmanthus 🌸
Size: 8oz / 227g
Roast: Light
Recommended Rest: 4–6 weeks

Region: Pallatanga, Chimborazo, Ecuador
Elevation: 1600–2000 MASL
Producer: Enrique Merino, Finca Lugmapata
Variety: Sidra
Process: Anaerobic Washed

The Merino family’s relationship with coffee stretches back more than 60 years. Enrique’s father planted the first coffee trees on the farm, but as prices fell, he was eventually forced to abandon cultivation. Still, several of those original trees survived—producing just enough cherries each year to cover the estate’s taxes and quietly preserving the family’s agricultural legacy.

Decades later, Enrique returned to those memories of childhood among the remaining coffee plants and made a bold decision: to restore Lugmapata’s coffee lands and rebuild production from the ground up. He began replanting, replacing aging trees with new, high-potential varietals and carefully shaping the farm toward the specialty market. What began as a nod to family heritage has grown into a thriving multigenerational project producing around 150 quintales of green coffee annually.

For this Sidra lot, cherries first undergo a brief aerobic fermentation in sacks. They are then washed, submerged, and placed into sealed tanks for a three-day anaerobic fermentation, allowing the sugars to deepen and the acidity to crystallize into a clean, structured profile.

WHY WE SELECTED THIS COFFEE

This is our first collaboration with Finca Lugmapata, a farm celebrated for its spirit of innovation—from varietal experimentation to its pioneering work with the L1 hybrid. The farm’s precision and commitment to quality shine through beautifully in this anaerobic washed Sidra.

The cup opens with bright, tropical starfruit, crisp and refreshingly clean. As it cools, notes of ripe Bartlett pear bloom, adding a delicate green sweetness. A distinctive yogurt-like creaminess gives the cup remarkable texture—silky, high-bodied, and unmistakably characteristic of Lugmapata’s processing style.

It finishes with floral osmanthus tea, lingering softly and elegantly.

This lot is a stunning expression of both the Sidra variety and the magic of Ecuadorian terroir—refined, complex, and deeply memorable.