Ecuador El Limón

The Story Behind the Coffee

From our importer, the Coffee Quest:

Finca El Limón is located in Quilanga, Loja, Ecuador, and is managed by Segundo Abad, a 33-year-old, second-generation coffee grower. The farm consists of 10 hectares of land, with 7 being planted with coffee. It sits at an elevation of 1,900 m.a.s.l, and consists of 18,000 coffee trees in production, with the majority being the San Salvador, Sarchimor, and Colombia F6 varieties. However, Segundo has also baby Sidra plants in the nursery!

This Washed lot begins its process by hand-picking the ripest cherries and then leaving them in cherry for a 24-hour dry fermentation before being de-pulped and left to ferment again for an additional 6 days. Afterwards, the coffee is washed and placed to dry in marquesinas for up to 15 days, with constant movement, until it reaches 10 – 11% humidity.

Segundo Abad’s father used to be one of the biggest producers in the region, but his farm was heavily affected by the rust disease. Making some really hard decisions, his father decided to leave part of the land to Segundo. Although the rust had wiped almost all of the coffee trees by then, he took it as an opportunity to revive the coffee and keep the tradition alive. 

With so much to learn, Segundo started experimenting with different coffee processes, always aiming for quality. Traditionally fermentation times at the farm never exceeded 24 hours, but foreseeing a shift in the market, almost 4 years ago, and with the help and guidance of neighboring producers in the region, they decided to start extending the fermentation times. In addition, last year, Segundo started producing Honey lots.

Nowadays, Segundo Abad is renowned in the region for his cup quality and with exotic varieties coming down the pipeline, we expect this is just the beginning for Finca El Limón!