Ecuador is one of the most diverse countries on the planet, as Humboldt has already noticed, and so is Ecuadorian coffee!
- Coffee production is a comparatively young tradition in the country.
- Arabica and Robusta have only been grown since 1952.
- Arabica grows on the hillsides of the Andes, on the highest plantations in the world – up to 6,000 m.
- The Ecuadorian coffee beans generally have rather little body and are characterized by an average acidy.
- The early-harvested Ecuadorian coffee has an intense aroma with a fairly mild, balanced taste, which is characterized by a fine bitter note.
- Latter picking, on the other hand, has a sharper taste, which contains fine acid and woody notes.
- Ecuadorian coffee such as the Vilcabama from the valley of the hundred-year-olds are especially appreciated among coffee-lovers for their special digestibility and mild taste with a fine chocolate note.
- Also on the Galapagos Islands coffee is cultivated – Read more about it here
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Traditional Ecuadorian Coffee Preparation
Instant coffee
- Is still the most common way coffee is consumed in Ecuador.
- Common brands are Colcafé, Nescafe, Buendia or PresCafe.
- When you order a cup of coffee, you will be asked “con agua o con leche” (with water or with milk) and your answer will determine whether a cup of hot water or hot milk arrives at the table. You will then add instant coffee to taste.
Esencia de Café
- If you order this in a café you will receive a cup of hot milk. On the table is a cruet of an essence of coffee, a syrup-like substance made from a concentrated brew of coffee.
- This essence is called tintura. A coffee made with hot water and tintura is called una tinta.
- The preparation of this essence differs, but usually a cafetera
- But I also found recipes that reminds me of cold brew with 250g coarse ground coffee and 500ml of water that are left for 24hours.
- One popular method is to use a stove-top espresso machine.
- Esencia de cafe is offered in many traditional establishments in Historic Quito.
Café Pasado
- This can be different things: In some places, café pasado is drip coffee.
- But it can also be coffee made in a percolator.
- Or coffee poured through a cotton filter, also called Cafe filtrado. Ground coffee is placed in a filter cloth (coffee sock) attached to a metal or wooden handle that can rest on the pot rim while the bag steeps in the simmering water.
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