Ecuador Hacienda La Papaya 15 Hours Fully Washed Typica Mejorado
Ecuador Hacienda La Papaya 15 Hours Fully Washed Typica Mejorado
Origin: Ecuador - Saraguro, Loja
Farm: Hacienda La Papaya
Altitude: 1800 - 2200 masl
Varietal: Typica Mejorado
Process: 15 Hours Fully Washed
Hacienda La Papaya is a high-altitude coffee estate located on the Saraguro plateau in Loja Province, southern Ecuador, at elevations ranging from 1,800 to 2,200 meters above sea level. Nestled in the Pacific watershed of the Andes, it is regarded as one of the benchmarks of modern Ecuadorian specialty coffee. Under the leadership of Juan Peña, the estate combines exceptional terroir, scientific research, and precision agriculture to produce coffees celebrated for their elegance, balance, complex floral, fruit characteristics and remarkable clarity.
The estate enjoys a dry tropical climate with only two months of heavy rainfall each year, while the remainder of the year is cool and dry. These stable conditions allow flowering, cherry maturation, and harvesting to be precisely managed, significantly reducing the risk of fungal diseases and providing ideal conditions for both washed and natural processing.
This Typica Mejorado lot undergoes a 15-hour Fully Washed process. Before harvest, a network of soil sensors continuously monitors soil moisture, nutrient availability and plant uptake to optimise cherry development, promoting high bean density and the accumulation of aromatic compounds. Fully ripe cherries are then hand-picked and depulped to produce parchment coffee.
The parchment is immersed in pure Andean spring water for 15 hours under carefully controlled conditions to completely remove the mucilage while minimising microbial activity. After washing, the coffee is transferred to a climate-controlled solar drying facility equipped with temperature and humidity sensors, where automated airflow management ensures an even 11-day drying period until the beans reach a stable moisture content of 10–12%. This meticulous process preserves exceptional floral aromatics, bright acidity, transparent sweetness and remarkable cup clarity.
Coffees are roasted every Sunday and shipped on Monday.