Miguel Dota

About This Coffee

This is our second release from Miguel Dota, continuing our project in the Saraguro region of Ecuador. Grown in a small Sidra garden on a sub-1-hectare (~2.5-acre) farm, this lot is an exciting representation of the quality we now know can be found in this area. In the cup we find rose hips, hops, and ripe strawberries. Sourcing coffee in Ecuador remains uniquely challenging. Fewer farmers are choosing to grow coffee, and prices continue to rise year after year. Despite these obstacles, this region continues to produce some of our favorite coffees. This year, we began a new project in Saraguro with the goal of developing more micro lots. We believe this is a particularly special region in the coffee-producing world, capable of producing some of the most distinctive and compelling profiles. The Dota family has become a meaningful part of this effort, and we are excited to continue building this project together. While we don't know exactly which variety it is, we do know for certain the variety colloquially called Sidra in Ecuador is an Ethiopian Landrace variety. Ethiopia is widely acknowledged as the geographic origin of coffee. DNA testing has confirmed over 60 distinct varieties growing in Ethiopia, making it home to the most coffee biodiversity in the world. How these Ethiopian varieties have made their way to various parts of the world varies wildly, and is the focus of much research and debate. Given climate change and the increasing difficulty to grow coffee, there is also a lot of research being done to develop new varieties and hybrids, usually starting with Ethiopian Landrace germ-lines.