Lilac Dream

Ecuador’s top coffees are as good as any other country’s top coffees - there, I said it! Panama and Colombia have their fame, and rightfully so, but Ecuador is no slouch, it’s just not as good as marketing their coffees as the other two. Jose Luis’ coffee is one of the top coffees in Ecuador - and, using my logic, one of the best coffees in the world. Period.

One thing I love about Jose Luis is that he is not afraid to take risks and this is how he has achieved so much in so little time. He only started in coffee farming in 2015, ya, that’s right! 2015! What has made him such a coffee prodigy is that he started from the outside in: he fell in love with an SL28 from Kenya he tried in Portland and that experience single handedly changed his view on coffee.

He started in coffee in 2015, but coffee is actually in his blood. His grandfather, Luis Emilio, first planted coffee in Hacienda Santa Gertrudis in the 1950s. Jose Luis’ father then expanded the coffee plantation in the 1990s, but the market collapse of 1999 forced them to abandon the coffee plantation and focus on the construction business.

But in 2015, Jose Luis’ newfound love for coffee propelled him to plant Caturra, Yellow Catuaí, Geisha, SL-28, Typica Mejorado and Sidra. By the way, this is from Jose Luis himself - it sums up why he’s knocked it out of the park in so little time.

“Naturally, drinking the SL-28 aroused my curiosity; how do you obtain those flavours? Was it the variety? The origin? Could this be replicated in Santa Gertrudis? There would be no turning back; I decided to follow this new passion to undertake the journey to produce world-class coffee. I began to educate myself on coffee. I planted coffee at the farm again, searching for high-quality genetic material, and investigating and implementing new processing and drying techniques.“

This coffee is a yellow catuaí and I can safely say it’s the most elegant and delicate version of a catuaí I have ever tasted. It has hints of geisha and heirloom Ethiopia's. It’s impressive and lovely!

So, that should give you a glimpse into the kind of fire that drives Jose Luis. That fire has resulted in him reaching world class status in an incredibly short time. I will say one more thing about Jose Luis - he is kind, generous and humble - I can say he’s quickly become one of my favourite people to visit in Ecuador.