Both arabica and robusta are grown in coffee, in general Ecuadorian arabica provides full-bodied coffees with notes of cocoa and a persistent aftertaste.

History of coffee production in Ecuador

Coffee arrived in Ecuador much later than in other South American countries, around 1860. When the country opened up to foreign trade, coffee production began to rise quite a bit to allow export, until the global coffee market crisis of the early 1900s. Once the crisis passed, around 1905, production and exports began to grow again and now coffee together with cocoa (of very high quality) and bananas it is the country's main agricultural export. Ecuador's agriculture suffers from many problems, it would need incisive reforms and therefore the production of coffee is not enormous from a quantitative point of view, however the environmental conditions of certain areas are perfect for growing very high quality coffee, so much so that if the development of agriculture is a way to fight poverty in the country, it is expected that the coffee industry will also be the backbone in many of the international cooperation projects. There are five main production areas: Manabi, Loja, El Oro, Zamora Chinchipe and the Galapagos Islands. Manabi is a province on the Pacific coast, named after a local population. This is the area of the country where coffee production began, 50% of Ecuadorian arabica is still produced here, which in turn represents 65-70% of total coffee production. Loja is a province in the south of the country, therefore in the Andean area, where good quality high-altitude Arabica is produced (about 20% of production). El Oro is another province in the south of the country, it is located west of the province of Loja and overlooks the Pacific, it is a lowland area that provides about 10% of coffee production. Zamora Chinchipe is a province in the South East of the country on the border with Peru, here we are definitely in Andean territory, arabica is grown up to 1900 meters and therefore it will not be surprising that some of the best coffees in Ecuador come from here. Finally, the Galapagos Islands, here coffee benefits from a particularly favorable climate which allows for the production of great arabica at low altitudes. As regards the classification for marketing, we mentioned that agriculture in Ecuador is not very advanced, therefore we do not have a rigorous and complex system like in other countries. You may find coffees marketed with labels such as Selecto and Supremo.

The quality of Ecuadorian coffee

As anticipated in Ecuador both Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (robusta) are cultivated, the proportions are: 65-70% of the total is made up of the first and obviously 35-30 % of the second. Often on Ecuadorian coffees you may find the indication sundried (dried in the sun) because in Ecuador as much as 40% of the arabica and all the robusta are treated with the natural method. Notoriously, the natural method has the effect of sweetening the beans and absorbing aromatic notes, furthermore, according to some, Ecuadorian coffees absorb particular characteristics due to the fact that they are often grown in the shade of banana trees (Ecuador is the third largest producer of bananas in the world and the leading exporter). If the hint of cocoa is a characteristic often described in different varieties of arabica regardless of the presence of cocoa plants in the vicinity of coffee plants but only as a similar organoleptic characteristic, in the case of Ecuador, home of the finest cocoa, the association

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