THE BEANS: Ecco Caffè (Santa Rosa)

Northern Italian Espresso

Gorgeous notes of bittersweet chocolate begin in the cup. Vanilla and sugarcane transition seamlessly into a lingering caramel finish. This coffee exhibits a rounded acidity and silken mouth feel creating a classically balanced espresso.

Finca La Tina
Honduras
Catuai

Brown sugar aromatics tuck softly into a buttery cup, with comforting notes of honey, baked pear and white peach. This coffee finishes sweetly with key lime acidity and a subtle warm spice.
Ecco is pleased to work with Don Fabio Caballero and Moises Herrera again this year! This coffee hails from the picturesque high elevations of Finca La Tina. Being one of the first coffee farms in the Mogola region, this farm is a local landmark and boasts heirloom varietals of great genetic purity. The Caballero family is innovative and hardworking, investing each year in quality improvement measures, as well as social and environmental projects. For example, by building their own wet mill, they have direct control over coffee quality from growing, to picking, to dry parchment. This year, they introduced improved logistical and transportation techniques to protect the coffee as it moves from their wet mill to the port of San Pedro for shipping to the US. This resulting vibrant and juicy qualities in the cup sing the praises of hardwork and investment in quality!

Coope Dota
Costa Rica

The Coope Dota cooperative was founded in 1960 and has grown to 769 farmers. The Ecco team has been directly working with the cooperative for the past four years. Coope Dota's immaculate processing mills are nestled in the hills of the prominent Tarrazu growing region. Among the the finest operations in specialty coffee, Coope Dota is a trailblazer in microlot production in Costa Rica. This is due in no small part to general manager Roberto Mata's tireless work to produce exquisite microlot coffees with complete transparency, traceability and care from seed to cup. This coffee is a perfect symbol of the impressive strides Costa Rica continues to make as a leader in specialty coffee. A lively yet balanced cup with Rainier cherry sweetness, an orange-lemon ciitrus acidity, and a pleasant toffee and nougat finish.

Organic Brazil Camocim
Brazil
Catucai, Catucaiaçu and Caturra

Subtle violet and cocoa aromas follow-through into a full-bodied cup with mild lime acidity and distinct notes of juiced strawberries, cocoa, and creamy sweet almond butter. Delicious!
This coffee is a blend of three varietals; Catucai, Catucaiaçu and Caturra. Fazenda Camocim is a recognized leader in sustainability in Brazil, and produces high quality organic and biodynamic coffees. Learning from his grandfather, Sr. Henrique Sloper Araújo promotes biodiversity using the best modern and ancient farming techniques, and by integrating the farm into the surrounding Pedra Azul national park region. Coffee cherries are manually picked, sorted, and dry de-pulped before being dried on raised terraces, all to ensure the highest quality. The great care that Sr. Henrique Sloper Araújo and his dedicated staff take in cultivation, picking and processing is evident in the cup: clean, sweet, full-bodied coffee!

La Guatuza
Nicaragua
Organic

The Canales family and the El Eden cooperative group continue to be the most proactive and quality-conscious organic farmers in Nicaragua. The ecosystem at the breathtaking La Guatuza farm is best described as lush and is almost entirely self-sustaining. This season the Canales family have furthered their committment to quality by improving their wet mill, directly resulting in the clarity and sweetness found in this coffee. Vanilla and brown sugar aromatics transition to a balanced cup resplendent with notes of juicy apricot, dried coconut and milk chocolate.

Bufcafe
Rwanda

A lively cup with floral aromatics, an excellent red grape, lime and tamarind acidity, and flavors of molasses, raisin and honey. Bufcafe is a real standout in a country full of incredible stories of reinvention and development progress. Much has been made in the press over the last few years about the way in which Rwanda has remade itself and emerged as a model country for economic progress in East Africa. Buf’s growth captures this dynamic and is without question one of the most successful of the washing station projects that have been proliferating in Rwanda since 2002. Epiphanie Mukashyaka is a widow who opened a small coffee washing station (Nyarusiza) outside of Butare back in 2003. Since then she has grown tremendously, more than doubling her volume and building a second station (Remera) nearby to increase capacity. Meanwhile, she has become the most decorated producer in the country, having taken multiple awards in each of the Rwandan quality competitions, including four in the first ever Rwanda Cup of Excellence. Her story is an inspiration and a stunning example of where a little initiative can lead.