Ecuador — Pepe Jijon Finca Soledad Typica Mejorado (Oxidator)

Tastes Like — 🍊 Mandarin • 🫐 Cranberry • 🌿 Mint

DETAILS

• Producer: Pepe Jijon
• Farm: Finca Soledad
• Region: Intag Valley, Ecuador
• Varietal: Typica Mejorado
• Process: Oxidator
• Altitude: 1,515 MASL
• Size: 100g 

INTRO

From Pepe Jijon at Finca Soledad — the Typica Mejorado counterpart to the Sidra Wave Honey, processed through Pepe's Oxidator technique. Where the Wave Honey is warm and berry-fruited, the TyOxi is brighter, crisper, and more citrus-driven — mandarin clarity, cranberry vibrancy, and a distinctive cool mint freshness that makes it immediately distinctive. In the cup: mandarin, cranberry, and mint.

THE PRODUCER

Pepe Jijon is, by any measure, one of the most remarkable people in coffee. The first Latin American to solo-climb the seven summits, he brings the same singular focus and adventurous spirit to Finca Soledad — a 120-hectare cloud forest in the Intag Valley with just 4 hectares dedicated to coffee, growing Gesha, Sidra, and Typica Mejorado. Together with his family, Pepe farms with a deep commitment to giving back to the natural environment — the cloud forest that surrounds the coffee plots is cultivated and protected with the same care he dedicates to the coffee itself.

Bluebird first discovered Pepe's work in 2022 while searching for competition coffees. His processing innovations — the Wave and the Oxidator — represent a genuine frontier in post-harvest technique, producing coffees of extraordinary aromatic character that are rare, exclusive, and priced accordingly.

Mejorado has become the gem of Ecuadorian specialty coffee — identified as a cross-pollination of Bourbon and Ethiopian Landrace, now understood as distinct from Typica despite the similarity in name. Prized for its refined, aromatic complexity and bright acidity, it finds exceptional expression in the Intag Valley's cool cloud forest environment — and in Pepe's Oxidator process, its inherent citrus brightness and herbal complexity are given the time and conditions to develop into something genuinely unusual.

THE PROCESS

The Oxidator process at Finca Soledad involves a precisely controlled fermentation and extended drying programme — a deliberate slowing of the post-harvest cycle that gives the coffee significant time to develop and mature in the flavours of the cherry. The specific distinction between the Oxidator and the Wave protocol relates to the introduction of a controlled oxidation phase, which contributes to the mandarin brightness and mint freshness that characterise the TyOxi profile.

🍒 Hand-picking — Typica Mejorado cherries selectively harvested at peak ripeness 🧪 Fermentation & maceration — Coffee fermented and macerated before drying 🌬️ Controlled oxidation — A deliberate oxidation phase introduced during processing, building the bright citrus and herbal complexity that define this lot 🌑 Temperature-controlled dark room drying — Dried over an extended period in a temperature-controlled dark room, allowing the flavours to mature slowly and fully into the bean

The controlled oxidation and extended dark room drying are the defining steps — by introducing a deliberate oxidative phase and then drying slowly over weeks in a controlled environment, Pepe develops the bright mandarin, cranberry, and mint character that makes this lot so distinctively different from the Wave Honey, while the Typica Mejorado's inherent citrus clarity provides the clean, precise structure that carries every note through to the finish.

THE CUP

A rare and vividly distinctive Oxidator from one of Ecuador's most original and adventurous producers — bright mandarin sweetness, cranberry vibrancy, and a cool mint freshness in a cup of exceptional clarity and character. Finca Soledad at its most surprising.

Flavour Notes

🍊 Mandarin 🫐 Cranberry 🌿 Mint