La Papaya Anaerobic Natural

Hacienda La Papaya is located in Ecuador’s southern Loja region, where high elevations, cool temperatures, and a dry rainforest climate create ideal conditions for growing specialty coffee. Due to the area’s limited rainfall, the farm uses a precise drip irrigation system that promotes healthy root development and ensures consistent cherry ripening throughout the season. Over the past decade, La Papaya has earned a reputation for innovation and attention to detail, with a strong focus on preserving the genetic integrity of traditional varieties like Typica. They even maintain a dedicated seed garden to propagate clean, true-to-type plant stock for future harvests.

For this anaerobic natural lot, only fully ripe Typica cherries are selected, then thoroughly cleaned and placed in sealed polyethylene tanks for fermentation. The cherries ferment in an oxygen-free environment for 120 hours at temperatures carefully maintained below 75°F, allowing for a slow, controlled development of flavor. After fermentation, the cherries are transferred to the farm’s greenhouse drying rooms, where they dry evenly over the course of 30 days. The result is a vibrant and expressive cup with a gently layered fermentation character, offering notes of ripe strawberry, juicy mandarin orange, and a bright, tart hint of sumac.