Introduction to Coffee Culture in the Galapagos Islands

Follow the caf é (Wechat official account vdailycom) and found that Beautiful Cafe opened a small shop of its own.

Coffee beans are really picky about the environment in which they grew up. First of all, they must live in the upper level (altitude), warm and humid climate, sunny and shady, fertile soil and plenty of water, cool but not too cold. I like warmth but not too hot. Most of the places that meet these conditions are in the tropics between latitude 25 °south and latitude 25 °north around the equator, which is often referred to as the coffee belt.

We are familiar with things like Ethiopia and Kenya in Africa, Brazil and Colombia in South America, Panama and Guatemala in Central America, Indonesia and Yemen in the Asia-Pacific region. These are the more famous coffee producing countries, and many of our favorite boutique coffees come from these countries. This time I would like to introduce you to a coffee that is rarely heard of-Galapagos Coffee. Do you feel strange? Let me put it another way-Ecuador, are you familiar with it?

Ecuador is a country located in South America. Coffee beans are divided into two varieties: Galapagos and Gigante, both of which have the characteristics of large grains and heavy weight. Galapagos (Galapagos) is pronounced in Spanish and we translate it into Cologne in Chinese. It belongs to Ecuador nationally, but its coffee will not be named Ecuador, because although Galapagos belongs to Ecuador, it is located in the Pacific Ocean, more than 1100 kilometers away from the mainland and covering an area of more than 7500 square kilometers. it is an archipelago of 13 islands and 19 reefs solidified by undersea volcanic eruptions, stretching 1000 kilometers from the South American continent to the Pacific Ocean.

Coffee in the Galapagos Islands has its own uniqueness. It was brought to the island around 1870. 150 years later, coffee varieties are still the original species of coffee grown at that time-the ancient bourbon species. It has never been bred by any artificial cross. And the coffee on the island is basically grown in the mountains about 500m above sea level. Friends who have seen our coffee bean series should know that the higher the altitude, the better the quality of coffee. Generally speaking, it is necessary to reach an altitude of 1700 to 2100 meters before it can be called high-quality coffee beans. Isn't this 500m a long way off?

This is what makes Galapagos Coffee unique, because the archipelago is located at the confluence of cold currents in Peru in the south and warm equatorial currents in the north. Affected by the cold and warm ocean currents, a small ecological environment has been formed. The climate of 500m here is equivalent to that of 900m-1800 m inland. This terrain is very suitable for the growth of very hard coffee beans (SHB) with high acidity, and is also the key to the high quality of coffee.

The quality of Galapagos coffee is very good, and it is mainly exported to Scandinavia and other Nordic countries, so our people know little about it. As coffee is consumed by people all over the world, the world coffee industry is also developing towards a mass production model. A small-scale planting model like Galapagos actually limits its development, and if it does not expand its scale, it may eventually be forced to give up because of unprofitable profits. Coffee plantation owners here are also aware of this problem and gradually expand the area of their estates in the early 1990s to make full use of their unique advantages.

The Galapagos archipelago is now designated as a national park by Ecuador and listed as "human property" by UNESCO. It is far from land and largely avoids the impact of human behavior on nature. In order to maintain the local natural ecology as much as possible, Ecuador legally prohibits the use of all kinds of artificial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Therefore, the Galapagos coffee beans are all organic coffee beans, which are grown without any chemical agents and are recognized as natural green boutique coffee. this naturally grown coffee is mild and rich in taste, sweet in sour and slightly floral, fruity and caramel.

In fact, most island beans are very likeable, but low production and high prices also widen the gap between them and the public. Recently, this Galapagos appeared in our students' coffee tasting list. After medium roasting, it shows a good sense of balance, soft acidity, refreshing flower fragrance, like jasmine and early autumn sweet-scented osmanthus, which is really a bit of blue mountain style! If you like the Blue Mountain style and consider the value for money, choose this Galapagos.

When looking for information, I was deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery of the Galapagos Islands. Scientists have verified that there are more than 700 kinds of ground animals, more than 80 species of birds and many insects living on the island. Darwin visited the island. I got the insight from it and created the Theory of Evolution. On this island called the living Museum of Biological Evolution and showroom, we can see very unusual animal species such as terrestrial iguanas and giant turtles, and our coffee is really much younger than these rare species! But they are like different colors, and the Galapagos Islands is a palette that brings together many colors to form a colorful picture that is presented to the world.