Pepe is from Ecuador, but spent much of his childhood travelling the world as the son of an Ecuadorian ambassador. Prior to getting into coffee, Pepe developed a passion for climbing and decided to solo climb the Seven Summits - these represent the highest peaks in each continent. He did this with no oxygen and no assistance.

Eventually, he decided he wanted to work on reforestation and purchased a piece of land in the awe inspiring Intag valley in the north of Ecuador and began planting trees in 2010. The farm is 120 hectares mainly consisting of protected or replanted forests. He also planted coffee trees at the very start, but quickly discovered that the soil at the farm was not ready for coffee and decided to wait until the newly planted forest trees matured and the soil benefited from them and regenerated.

When the soil was ready, he planted Sidra, Typica Mejorado and Geisha. He only planted six hectares of land, where the soil was ready for coffee. Here are some words from Pepe about their philosophy:

“Our philosophy embraces our respect and understanding of the silent language of nature. We aim to transform our coffee fruits into happy beans.

In our processes we try to cause the least amount of stress to the living embryo so that when finally roasted it shines, it brings synergy to the cup and happiness to the responsible consumer.”

Pepe deeply cares about coffee, but more importantly, he cares about connections. This is what struck me the most when walking around with him at the farm - the connections he has made with his staff and how much they seem to care about the farm and the coffee - they don’t need reminders - they take amazing care of the coffee, as if it was their farm. I love walking the farm with Pepe and seeing the workers warmly greeting him “Hola Pepito” as we wind through the tree covered farm. Pepe is committed to offering a sustainable workplace by ensuring they have access to health care and he pays the highest wages in the region.

Behind Pepe is a great team, consisting of his wife Monique, who often helps around the farm, especially when Pepe is unable to be at the farm. And now his son, Jose Igancio has been helping him with cupping, quality control and coffee sales. I always enjoy my time with Pepe and his beautiful family.