Espindola is produced by the 311 members of the Procafeq cooperative, one of the five associations that make up Ecuador’s small southern coffee federation. The coffee plots are a blend of Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra varietals handpicked and wet milled on each farm, although one group of 15 families collectively mills their coffee cherry at a centralized mill. After milling, the beans are fully sun dried and rested before being sent to the Federation’s new dry mill in Catamaya for hulling, sorting, and quality evaluation.

Allegro will donate $10,000 to the Fapecafes cooperative to expand the irrigation project that was started in 2007 with additional water collection ponds, spray heads, and drip irrigation materials for members of the co-op. The goal of the project is to decrease the stress from rainfall shortages, variability, and distribution issues. Water stress affects yield and quality of coffee plants. The end goal of this project is to improve the overall volume of the co-op’s specialty coffee production.