Palmira Natural
Santiago and I (Scott) met at an Italian restaurant in San
Salvador, El Salvador. This was during the Producer
Roaster Forum. In addition to being a time for business,
the RPF is also a time for catching up with friends and
has a large family reunion vibe. Standart magazine had
just done an article on the emerging specialty coffee
scene in Ecuador and I knew that if we were going to
start working with Ecuadorian producers, we'd need to
find the right contact.
Santiago gave us some samples, which we brought back
to NY and roasted up. They were amazing. We knew we
had found a producer we wanted to work with.

Santiago is aware of Ecuador's location in the shadows
of two of South America's coffee giants. Colombia to
the north and Peru to the South, Santiago's farm, Finca
Palmira, is a story of resili ence and reorientation on
specialty for survival.

In addition to growing new exciting varietals like, Pink
Bourbon, Typica Mejorada, Sidra and even experimental
varietals like Laurina (not fully caffeinated), Santiago
also adds value to his coffees through various post
harvest processes.

In Santiago's words: By using new sustainable
agricultural processes, our dream is not only to produce
great coffees, but to demonstrate the great potential of
the Chito region, not only in Ecuadorian coffee
production, but on the world stage.

This coffee is a blend of the Typica Mejorada and Sidra.
It was processed as a natural. We're picking up on notes
of molasses, clove and prune. We'll be getting more
coffee from Santiago and Finca Palmira later on this fall.