Melecio Mayo Hidalgo

On the southem province of Zamora Chinchipe, on the westem side the sierra there is a bustling little town called Palanda whose main economic activity is agriculture. Here, taking the unpaved road towards the mountains, at an elevation of 1,656 masl you’ll find Melecio On the southern province of Zamora Chinchipe, on the western side the sierra there is a bustling little town called Palanda whose main economic activity is agriculture. Here, taking the unpaved road towards the mountains, at an elevation of 1,656 masl you’ll find Melecio Maya at his farm El Almendro, distinguishable because of an almond tree at the entry point to the farm. Melecio has been involved in coffee from a young age as his parents where coffee farmers, and he learned from them. The passion for coffee runs in the family as his father was able to raise him and his 8 brothers, who also have their own farms, with the earnings he made from coffee and cattle. Through this journey in producing coffee, Melecio started in 2013 looking for quality in his coffee and getting better prices for it. For this path in specialty coffee, he has had the advice of Caravela’s PECA technician which has helped him in improving the quality of his coffee, achieving better processes, and managing his coffee trees with an agroforestry system. On this last aspect, Melecio is proud of his organic coffee production taking care of the environment, with a good shade management and strictly prohibiting logging in this farm. Here, he lives alongside his wife Melida Yoland and two kids. With his wife, they share the labor of the farm as for example she takes care of the crop and wet mill, while he works on fertilization, pruning, cleaning and others. His goals and dreams are to increase the size of his farm, plant 2 hectares of Bourbon Sidra, and make improvements of the wet mill.

Melecio is very methodical with the way he processes his coffee, which starts with a good selection the adequate ripe cherries. This are then floated to take out any defect cherries and foreign materials such as leafs and branches. The cherries are then pulped without water and undergo a second floating to clean the coffee. Following this, the coffee beans are fermented anaerobically with water for 8 hours and then from 30 to 48 hours anaerobically without water. Afterwards, the coffee is taken to the covered raised beds where it takes 19 days approximately depending on the climate to reach its point. As a parting message, Melecio wants to tell you “You’re invited to come to my farm, get to know the care we put to each detail to achieve this coffee and of course, share a cup of coffee with us.”