We're starting to expand our Ecuador purchasing horizons, and to contract the incredibly squeaky clean and elegant lot from Mario we've gone with something really quite substantially different. This incredibly high intervention lot from sisters Diana & Olinka, who have two farms - Yambamine, growing only Sidra; and Chorora which grows a full spectrum of varieties and cultivars.The 'Lupe Maria' variety is a promising Ethiopian landrace that, much like Mejorado, came to Ecuador through enterprising workers who liberated seeds from Nestle variety gardens.

The Story

Chorora, meaning 'water well' in Kichwa, is one of two farms owned by sisters Olinka and Diana Velez. The farm sits adjacent to its sister property Yambamine ('land of gold') on a hillside in Sozoranga, Loja. The location features primary cloud forest and is crossed by the historic Inca Road, with views of the Macará Valley toward Peru.

Olinka and Diana began their coffee journey around 2010 following significant life changes that prompted a return from urban to rural living. After personal difficulties, Olinka was inspired by her son's birth and family support to start anew. Influenced by her parents and Thomas Robert Malthus's theories on population and food production, she returned to Macará. This led to establishing Chorora, focused on specialty coffee production.

The transition required extensive research into soils and local coffee history, with some suggesting this region housed Ecuador's first coffee plantings. The combined farms span eight hectares, growing established varieties including Typica Mejorado and Sidra, while experimenting with Wush Wush and Pink Bourbon.

The variety in this lot is 'Lupe Maria', identified as an Ethiopian Landrace. Its route to Chorora wasn't through official channels. The seeds, much like the vaunted Mejorado were obtained from a Nestlé experimental breeding farm, and subsequently named 'Lupe Maria' after the daughter of the person who first liberated the seeds.

This situation directly highlights the ongoing tension surrounding access to coffee's core genetic resources. Ethiopian landraces are the foundation of Arabica diversity and, consequently, valuable assets for breeding programs aimed at quality, yield, and resilience – programs heavily invested in by corporations like Nestlé, often with implicit or explicit intellectual property considerations.

The fact that these seeds moved from a controlled corporate research environment into general cultivation via enterprising intermediaries demonstrates how informal networks operate.

Such informal routes emerge because smallholders often face significant barriers – including prohibitive cost, logistical hurdles in distribution, and intellectual property restrictions – when trying to access improved planting material developed within corporate R&D systems. Regardless of the acquisition specifics, 'Lupe Maria' represents sought-after Ethiopian germplasm now under evaluation and cultivation by producers like Diana and Olinka at Chorora.

Their commitment extends beyond cultivation. A research laboratory is under construction on-site, focusing on new processing methods, microbiology studies, and varietal cross-breeding. This innovative approach defines their philosophy. They pioneered techniques like carbonic maceration and anaerobic fermentation in Ecuador, often using natural lactobacillus cultures from coffee must (mossto).

This dedication produced early results. After promising initial harvests, Olinka began entering competitions. 2019 marked a breakthrough when experimental processing methods earned five prizes in Ecuador's national competition. Chorora secured first and second place with record scores, plus ninth, eleventh, and twentieth place finishes. Olinka notes that Diana achieved second place in her first competition that year, underscoring their shared success. Chorora later placed 21st in the 2021 Ecuador Cup of Excellence.

Currently, Olinka finds fulfillment in her work. Her vision includes developing Sozoranga into a "biological coffee route" to promote sustainable tourism, create local employment (from producers and collectors to guides and artisans), and strengthen the regional economy. She invites coffee enthusiasts to experience "the essence of Chorora's mystique," hoping visitors will appreciate the landscape, endemic wildlife, natural springs, and unique coffee culture.