Ecuador — Pepe Jijón Finca Soledad Sidra "Rainbow Wave" (Multi-Stage: Natural/Honey/Washed)

Tastes Like — 🌸 Florals • 🍑 Sweet Apricots • 🍵 Black Tea • 🍎 Crisp Red Apples

DETAILS

• Producer: Pepe Jijón
• Farm: Finca Soledad
• Region: Imbabura, Ecuador
• Varietal: Sidra
• Process: Rainbow Wave (Multi-Stage Natural/Honey/Washed)
• Elevation: 1,515 masl
• Direct Price: $77 USD/kg

INTRO A fifth harvest working with Pepe Jijón and Finca Soledad — consistently excellent, with unique, sweet profiles. Rainbow Wave is a new processing approach layering multiple fermentation stages to, in Pepe's words, "highlight the best of each process." Delicate florals and sweet apricots lead, with black tea structure and crisp red apple brightness. Incredibly complex, with a light body and sparkling finish. In the cup: florals, sweet apricots, black tea, and crisp red apples.

THE PRODUCER Pepe Jijón is an award-winning, world-famous coffee farmer. Finca Soledad is a community-oriented project where Pepe and his family support and employ single mothers who have been abandoned by their husbands. He grows only Typica Mejorada, Geisha, and Sidra, on a very small farm with limited production. Pepe continues honing his techniques as a certified Q Processing Professional, learning directly from Best of Panama producers, running ongoing experiments, and taking feedback from a trusted network of world-class roasters.

THE PROCESS Named "Rainbow Wave" for its journey across multiple fermentation stages, this method combines natural, honey, anaerobic, and washed processing in sequence. After picking, the coffee spends 8 days in a slow, cooled, dark-room dehydration — a stage Pepe likens to natural processing. It's then de-pulped and dried before a 4-day bagged cold dark-room fermentation in mucilage, which he compares to honey processing. Finally, the parchment is quickly rinsed and dried, finishing as washed.

This sequential blending of three distinct processing philosophies into one lot is the defining step — despite the extended time across multiple fermentation stages, extreme care at each one keeps the cup remarkably clean, building the layered floral, apricot, and red apple complexity that define it.

THE CUP Incredibly complex — delicate florals and sweet apricot sweetness up front, black tea structure through the middle, and crisp red apple brightness on the finish. Light body, sparkling finish, and remarkably clean given the extended, multi-stage processing.

Flavour Notes 🌸 Florals 🍑 Sweet Apricots 🍵 Black Tea 🍎 Crisp Red Apples