Eight arabica varieties, chosen for the ground we actually farm rather than for the ones that read well on a brochure.
Our coffee parcels sit at around 1,100 metres. Several of the varieties most celebrated in specialty coffee — Geisha, Sidra, the Ethiopian landraces — give their best a good deal higher than that, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
So the estate is built on the two varieties whose optimal band actually overlaps ours: Castilla, which produced our 87.5, and Sarchimor. Both are rust-resistant and productive, which on shaded, broken ground matters more than a famous name. The rest are grown in smaller quantities, some as genuine trial plots, to find out what this particular combination of soil, shade and elevation does to them.
That is the slower answer, and it is the one that holds up when a buyer puts the coffee on a table.
The variety that carries the estate. It produced the 87.5 that opened the door, and it is the base on which the Banderones signature is built. Its optimal band starts at 1,200 m — close to the ground we actually farm — which is the whole reason it leads here.
Round body, moderate acidity, cocoa, red fruit
The second variety genuinely at home at our elevation: its band runs from 1,000 m. Rust-resistant and productive, it gives the estate agronomic ballast without asking for altitude we do not have.
Body, chocolate, moderate acidity
From the Nestlé research centre's breeding programme. Planted on a trial parcel and now being scaled up. The new generation of F1 hybrids is the one genuine attempt to combine vigour, yield and a top-end cup in the same plant.
Complexity, floral, exceptional vigour
One of the two founding arabica strains, and the ancestor of much of what is grown today. It brings sweetness and balance to the estate's aromatic range.
Sweet, caramel, ripe fruit, balance
The most highly valued variety in specialty coffee, and the most demanding. It wants 1,600 m and above, low yield and constant attention. We grow it on a dedicated trial plot to find out what it does on this particular ground, not because we assume it will behave the way it does in Boquete.
Jasmine, bergamot, citrus, black tea, intensely floral
A natural mutation of Typica, famous for its elephant bean — the largest in commercial arabica. Low-yielding, distinctive, and a lot that identifies itself on sight.
Giant bean, sweetness, delicate body, floral
Populations from the genetic cradle of coffee. Grown here for the aromatic range they open up rather than for volume — they sit well above our elevation and are treated accordingly, as an experiment we report honestly on.
Floral, stone fruit, citrus, aromatic complexity
Ecuador's signature variety, and the one every estate in the country is now planting. We grow it. We have deliberately chosen not to build the estate on it — see below.
Floral, white fruit, clean, high sweetness
Agronomic characteristics — genetic group, rust behaviour, yield and optimal elevation — describe the variety wherever it is grown. What each one does on this estate is what the harvests are establishing, season by season.
Sidra made Ecuador's reputation. It is now being planted across the country, which means the market for it is filling up. A variety everybody offers is a variety whose price falls.
Banderones grows Sidra and has chosen not to amplify it. Building the estate's signature on a different base means arriving in front of a buyer with a profile nobody else is selling — which is the only durable advantage a small origin has.
We work directly with importers, roasting companies and green buyers. Tell us what you are looking for and we will send samples ahead of the release.