Introduction:Located in Loja Province of the Andes Mountains in South America, Ecuador produces world-class coffee thanks to its high altitude and unique microclimate. The windmill estate La Noria, with its Geisha variety, has ranked among the top winners in Ecuador’s COE competition for two consecutive years. This article will explore how this estate evolved from a nursery base into a championship-producing origin, taking you deep into the terroir advantages of Loja Province and the key details of growing Geisha.
In the Andes region of South America, Ecuador is a treasure trove of coffee flavor diversity, thanks to its varied climate and fertile volcanic soils. Among these, southern Loja Province is renowned for its high-altitude cultivation, and nestled here is the windmill estate La Noria, built from the ground up by CVM. What began as a nursery site has now developed into a top-tier production area integrating coffee harvesting and meticulous processing. It achieved outstanding results in the 2022 and 2023 Ecuador COE competitions with its Geisha variety, quickly rising as a new star in the industry.
As the fourth largest continent in the world, South America is not only rich in natural resources but also one of the major coffee-producing regions. The Andes Mountains that run along the western part of the continent and frequent volcanic activity have created a unique environment suitable for coffee growth. Although Ecuador is not the largest coffee producer, its geographical conditions have given rise to many high-quality coffee varieties, especially in the central and southern highland areas, which are highly regarded by coffee enthusiasts.
Looking back at the history of coffee in Ecuador, it dates back to the early 19th century in the 1860s, when coffee plantations first appeared in the coastal areas of Manabí Province. However, for a long time, cocoa was the country’s economic pillar, and coffee did not receive sufficient attention. It wasn’t until the late 1920s, when the cocoa industry suffered a severe blow due to disease, that coffee gradually emerged as an important commercial crop. Unfortunately, this boom was short-lived; the international coffee price crisis in the 1990s led to a significant drop in Ecuador’s coffee production, and after the 2000s, as oil became the focus of the economy, the status of agriculture declined relatively. Fortunately, in recent years, through the joint efforts of local farmers and coffee roasters, Ecuador’s coffee industry is gradually recovering.
Ecuador’s geographical environment is highly distinctive, with the equator crossing the northern part, the Andes Mountains running the entire length of the country, and frequent volcanic and seismic activities. The nation can be divided into four major regions: the western coastal area, the central mountainous region, the eastern Amazon basin, and the Galápagos Islands. These regions each have different climatic and altitude conditions. The western coastal area has a tropical rainforest climate, with an average annual temperature of about 23–25°C; the central mountainous region features a tropical savanna and subtropical forest climate, with elevations above 4,000 meters perennially snow-covered and the rainy season concentrated from December to June of the following year; the eastern Amazon region is hot, humid, and rainy all year round, with annual rainfall reaching 2,000–3,000 millimeters. Such diverse environments provide ideal conditions for coffee cultivation.
Ecuador grows both Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties, with Arabica mainly concentrated in the highland volcanic areas of the central Andes Mountains. It can generally be divided into two major production regions: the northern region includes Carchi, Imbabura, and Pichincha provinces, while the southern region is dominated by Loja, Azuay, and Zamora-Chinchipe provinces, with the harvest season typically from March to October each year.
Loja Province is located in southern Ecuador, adjacent to the Andes Mountains, and is one of the few places in the world where coffee is grown at altitudes as high as 1,450 to 2,000 meters. In the afternoon, dense fog from the Pacific Ocean often envelops the area, providing ideal humidity conditions for coffee trees. High altitude, a unique microclimate, and fertile soil together shape Loja Province’s status as an important coffee-producing region in Ecuador, attracting numerous well-known estates, including the El Dorado Estate and the windmill estate La Noria.
The windmill estate is part of CVM Coffee Company, which was founded by Bernard Uhe and partners from a Colombian coffee-growing family. With a long-term commitment to coffee cultivation, the company has accumulated extensive practical experience. The estate originally served as CVM’s nursery base, then gradually expanded to include coffee harvesting and post-harvest processing, eventually transforming into a top-tier destination dedicated to specialty coffee. In 2022, La Noria won second place in the Ecuador COE competition with a Geisha coffee scoring 89.35; the following year, it claimed the championship with a Geisha scoring an impressive 91.22.
Behind these outstanding achievements lies the windmill estate’s exceptional growing conditions. The estate’s planting altitude ranges between 2,000 and 2,300 meters. The large diurnal temperature variation brought by the high altitude, mineral-rich mountain spring water, moderate shade cover, and ample sunlight provide an ideal environment for growing premium coffee varieties such as Geisha. Currently, the estate primarily cultivates well-known varieties including Geisha, Typica, and SL28, each showcasing the unique flavor characteristics of high-altitude coffee from Loja Province.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
