Sun DanceSpecialty coffee from Ecuador · Anaerobic

Pablo Ponce came to coffee sideways — he developed his taste for it while living in Milan, then returned to Ecuador to make it himself. Today he owns and manages Finca San Pablo in Pichincha, in the northern highlands of the Andean Plateau north of Quito. It is cloud-forest country: cool, misty afternoons and cold nights that slow the cherries down and coax more sugar into each one. The lot is a microlot, sourced from an independent grower for the traceability and quality that mark the best of Ecuador's small but rising specialty scene. The Typica here is fermented anaerobically before it is depulped and washed — a careful, deliberate step for a coffee made in small quantity, by one person who chose this.

Roasted omni — dialled to taste great both ways, so brew it however suits you. As a bright, tea-like pour-over: 15 g coffee to 255 g water at 92–94 °C, ground coarse, blooming 30–45 g for 30 seconds then topping up to 255 g over 2:30–3:00 ⚙︎. In an AeroPress for something quick and forgiving: 15 g coffee, 230 g water at ~92 °C, steep 1:30 and press gently for 60 seconds ⚙︎. Or as espresso, if you have a machine: 19 g in, 48–50 g out in 26–32 seconds at 93 °C, ground fine ⚙︎. Whichever you choose, taste and change one variable at a time — grind first.