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APRIL SUBSCRIPTIONGrace Morales, EcuadorGrace Morales comes from a family of coffee producers. She and her brother run the family farm and are very dedicated to their craft. They have won several national awards as a result of the quality procedures and processing methods that they have developed on their farm. One of their names is frequently at the top of the COE (Cup of Excellence), a competition held in various participating countries, aimed to reward and fetch high purchase prices from coffee roasters. One overlooked by-product of this competition is the innovation and information sharing that happens around it. It is also a way for coffee producers to share and give back to their local producers' network.It is an honour...

SEPTEMBER SUBSCRIPTIONTerrazas Del Pisque, EcuadorWe have had this coffee for about 6 weeks now and I have been trying to find the best way to roast it, which has been a fun learning process.This coffee is a varietal called Pacamara, which means it is a hybrid between the Pacas variety and the Maragogype variety. The Pacamara takes after the Maragogype in the way of bean size. It is very large, and herein lies the challenge for a coffee roaster.In the heat transfer (roasting) process, it is important to penetrate the centre of the bean to bring out the coffee's character. If not roasted evenly enough the coffee can taste thin, sour and astringent. If the outside gets too roasted in...