Ecuador | Fausto Romo, Finca Carolina
Pichincha
We visited Fausto Romo and his wife, Nancy, at their farm Finca Carolina in August 2024. It's located across the Rio Alambi north of Nanegal in the Yunguilla subregion of Pichincha, where signs for La Perla start to appear. La Perla is famous for being the site of Nestle’s experimental coffee plantation in Ecuador where the Bourbon Sidra varietal is believed to have originated. (It's also where Typica Mejorado is thought to have originated.)
Fausto purchased land in 2000 which was at the time planted with beans and sugar cane. He started Finca Carolina with dairy cows, but the price bottomed out in the 2000s. His uncle suggested that he try coffee instead.
At first, Fausto didn’t like the results. About ten years ago he turned over most of the farm to Sidra because of the higher cup quality and price neighbors were receiving for it. He now has five hectares planted almost entirely with Sidra, with a small amount of Gesha making up the rest.
The washed Sidra starts with 48 hours of aerobic fermentation in barrels. It is then depulped and given another 24 hours of aerobic fermentation before being fully washed. Because the area around Nanegal is humid, cool, and cloudy, the drying process can take up to 30 days on raised beds. At 1,300-1,400 masl, the ojo de gallo fungus is a bigger issue than roya (Coffee Leaf Rust). Harvest in the region is drawn out from August to December. Fausto only hires women to pick because they have greater skill in identifying ripe cherries. He typically has about six pickers throughout the harvest season with a maximum of nearly 20 during the peak.
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