César Andagoya Toapanta

In the northern cantón of Quito, there is a small town named Pacto. Nearby, in the rural area, Cesar Andagoya has his farm, San Pedro, where he lives with his wife Rosa Elena and two daughters. The name of the farm came from a nearby homonymous creek. Before being involved in coffee, Cesar was working in the timber industry, but it proved difficult, and eventually, he lost his job. At that time, his mother had some coffee trees, but no one was taking care of them. Being without a job, he decided to take care of the coffee trees, and that was the start of his journey in coffee in 2018. During his first years producing coffee, it was quite challenging due to low prices, making it difficult to make ends meet. However, in 2018, he started with specialty coffee, and the change proved to be fruitful for him and the farm. Since then, he has been able to pay for his two daughters’ education. Additionally, in his quest for quality, he improved his farm management. For example, he learned how to manage shade effectively, which resulted in increased coffee production. Starting in coffee proved to be the right decision for him. With all the knowledge he has acquired over the years, Cesar decided to give back to the community and has started teaching younger generations about the process of specialty coffee production.

Cesar starts the coffee process with careful manual picking of the ripest cherries, which are then taken to the wet mill at the farm. There, the cherries are floated to remove the defective ones that will float. After that, they’re pulped and left to ferment for 24 hours with water. After fermentation, they are washed and then taken to the covered raised beds, where drying will occur for 26 to 30 days until the coffee reaches its ideal humidity point.