Ecuador . Andres Yepez . Mokka

Notes of pink grapefruit, mango preserve, pineapple candy, and matcha. From Hosteria Canavalle, a farm above the Ambi river canyon in Imbabura, northern Ecuador, at 2,140 metres. Run by Andrés Yepez, who manages the operation as something between a farm and a laboratory. Sixteen varieties under study across three microclimate zones, only five producing at commercial scale. Coffee grows under deep shade alongside avocados, native laurel, walnut, loquat, citrus, and vegetables.Andrés set the record for the highest price ever paid for Ecuadorian coffee at the first edition of the Qima Ecuador Farmer's Collection. A producer working at the edge of what the country's specialty scene can do.The variety is Mokka, a tiny-bean Bourbon-line cultivar. Low-yielding, intensely sweet, rarely seen at commercial volumes. Processed Natural, the cherries dried whole on the bean.