DON VALLEJITO, ECUADOR- FILTER COFFEE

Don Vallejito is the coffee of Ricardo Edwin Vargas Lombañón and his wife Miriam Vallejo, from Ecuador, in the Pichincha region, Canton of Quito, where this coffee has been grown at an altitude of over 1,500 metres. In the cup you can find clear and elegant fruitiness: apricot, hibiscus, and blood orange. The overall experience is fresh, floral, and balanced, with a pleasantly long and clean finish.

Ricardo's journey into coffee began from a different angle. He worked as a food engineer in the private sector, while also helping his father-in-law with planting and processing on his coffee farm. His father-in-law firmly believed that coffee could create jobs in the region and that specialty coffee held the future — and these ideas ignited in Ricardo a passion to establish his own farm. In 2014, he decided to start his own project together with his wife, and named the farm in memory of his father-in-law. From the very beginning, the direction was clear: specialty coffee where the details make the difference. His approach is characterised by the precision and intentionality typical of specialty coffee.

When it comes to processing, Ricardo takes fermentation seriously. He monitors temperature and Brix values to steer fermentation in the desired direction, and intentionally dries the coffee slowly over 3–4 weeks, allowing the flavours to develop at their own pace. Specialty coffee has also meant investment: drying facilities, wet mill infrastructure, and appropriate shading have been developed systematically, and the results are evident in the quality of the farm's coffees. The next goal is to maintain profitability and quality at the same level even as production grows — plans are in place to expand the coffee area, plant the Bourbon Sidra variety, and rejuvenate part of the older trees, so that the story of Vallejito can continue strongly for generations to come.