Chito is a community of coffee growers in the Zamora Chinchipe province of Ecuador, located in the southeast region of the country, near the Peruvian border. Of the 55 producers in Chito, most are subsistence farmers who up until recently have not had access to the global coffee market, instead selling their coffee for lower prices domestically. In 2021, Cafexporto, led by Juan Peña of Hacienda La Papaya, began working with this community as well as several other smaller communities in the region to produce this lot of coffee and to bring their coffees to market.

Cafexporto has been able to offer agronomical support to the Chito community, along with seedlings of high quality varieties such as Typica, Sidra, and Geisha for these producers to begin planting. Many of the varieties currently planted in Zamora Chinchipe which have been identified were originally intended for lower elevation growing. Through Cafexporto’s investment and guidance, the farmers here have been able to invest in their production and quality.

We are excited to share this coffee and be a part of this project for these coffees and producers. In the cup, we find many of the characteristics that coffees from Ecuador have captivated us with: from soft melon and sweet orange, with a milk chocolate character throughout.