LA PAPAYA is a single-origin washed coffee from Hacienda La Papaya in Loja, Ecuador, grown at 1800-2200 meters elevation. The coffee features the Typica Mejorado variety, which combines classic Typica lineage with Ethiopian landrace genetics. The bean displays a clean, deeply sweet profile with flavor notes of apple and chamomile, offering a smooth and delicate cup. Hand-selected cherries undergo a controlled 15-hour wash in Andean spring water, followed by 11-day solar drying monitored with precision sensors to achieve optimal moisture content.
Birchbach Coffee is a nano-roastery run by Flavio Lissandrello, a trained draftsman turned roaster who's spent the past decade in coffee. He launched the project in 2017 with an Aillio Bullet R1 V2 roasting machine but uses a bigger roaster when orders stack up. The packaging carries his own illustrations, and the coffees themselves tend toward flavor clarity without pushing too far into challenging territory. The goal isn't to impress competition judges (though Flavio competes in coffee championships); it's to offer specialty coffee that also works for people still finding their way into the category. Approachable complexity, if that's a thing.
