SAN AUGUSTIN SIDRA

San Augustin - Ecuador Natural Sidra

To celebrate our 4th Birthday, we've released an unbelievably sweet and vibrant Sidra from Alfonso Villagomez, with flavours akin to Raspberry Jam and Lime. Truly exemplary; quite possibly the highest quality coffee we've bought.

Suitable for: Espresso & Filter Brewing

Best As: Filter (Black) Espresso (Black or Milk)

Flavour Characteristics

Raspberry Jam, Strawberry Quality Street, Bright Florals - Very Silky

Origin & Producer Details

• Producer: Alfonso Villagomez
• Farm: San Augustin
• Region: Pichincha, Ecuador
• Variety: Sidra
• Process: Natural, Solar Dried In Oreadores
• Sourced Exclusively Via: Makicuna
• Q-Score: 90+

Quantity Available: 30kg

Recommended Rest

For the best tasting brew, we recommend enjoying this coffee between 24–44 days off roast. You can read more about resting coffee here.

About San Agustín Estate

Nestled in Ecuador’s lush highlands, just northwest of Quito, San Agustín Estate is one of the most fascinating and environmentally unique coffee farms in the country.

Located only a few hundred metres from the ruins of the ancient Yumbo civilisation in Tulipe, the land has a long history of connection to nature, agriculture and ecological balance.

Today, the farm is owned and operated by Alfonso Villagómez; a Q-grader, former environmental consultant and one of the most methodical coffee producers we have encountered in Ecuador.

A Modern Coffee Farm Built on Generational Land

Although the hacienda has belonged to Alfonso’s family for three generations, coffee production only began in 2014 after Alfonso made the decision to transform the family’s former dairy land into a boutique coffee farm focused on quality and terroir expression.

What started with a single coffee plant brought back from Colombia quickly evolved into a much larger vision.

Alfonso carefully selected a range of varieties capable of producing highly expressive and fruit-forward cup profiles in Ecuador’s unique climate.

Today, San Agustín grows:

Varieties Grown at San Agustín Estate

• Typica Mejorada
• Sidra
• Pacamara
• Ethiopian Heirloom

These coffees are typically characterised by intense sweetness, vibrant fruit profiles and exceptional clarity.

Producing Natural Coffees in One of Ecuador’s Wettest Regions

San Agustín is particularly unique because it is one of the only farms in the region consistently producing high-quality natural processed coffees.

The challenge is the climate.

Tulipe experiences extremely high humidity and significant annual rainfall, conditions that make natural processing incredibly difficult.

In most cases, coffees would ferment uncontrollably or struggle to dry evenly.

Rather than avoiding naturals altogether, Alfonso engineered a solution.

Custom Drying Chambers

To overcome the region’s humidity, San Agustín dries coffee in custom-built solar and gas-powered drying chambers, known locally as oreadores.

These slow drying chambers allow temperature and humidity to be precisely controlled throughout the drying phase, creating far more stability and consistency than traditional patio drying would allow in this environment.

The result is coffees with remarkable sweetness, cleanliness and precision; profiles that are rarely achievable in such a humid coffee-producing region.

Climate Challenges at San Agustín

The high rainfall around Tulipe has created increasingly difficult conditions for coffee production in recent years.

In 2022, the rainy season was dramatically longer and more intense than usual.

Coffee cherries became saturated with water and began falling from the trees before reaching full maturity.

For San Agustín, the impact was devastating. The farm lost approximately 90% of its harvest in 2022, while many neighbouring farms in the region experienced losses closer to 50%.

In response, San Agustín implemented additional agronomic precautions throughout 2023 in an attempt to reduce future losses if extreme wet seasons continue.

However, even with meticulous farming practices, there is only so much protection possible as climatic conditions become increasingly unpredictable.

Processing at San Agustín Estate

Coffee processing at San Agustín is highly controlled and extremely methodical.

Ripe cherries first arrive at the farm’s processing facilities where they are rinsed, sorted and floated to remove defects.

The cherries are then placed into sealed fermentation tanks for approximately 48 hours, or until the coffee reaches a target pH of around 3.5–3.6.

After fermentation, the coffee is transferred into the farm’s slow drying chambers where it dries gradually for between 21 and 28 days.

Once the coffee reaches its ideal moisture content of approximately 9–11%, it is moved into stabilised storage conditions in Quito before milling and export preparation.

Coffee Production Driven by Precision

Despite severe environmental challenges, Alfonso continues to produce some of the cleanest and most expressive natural coffees coming out of Ecuador today.

San Agustín Estate is rare not only because of its flavour profiles, but because of the level of care, experimentation and resilience behind every harvest.

How to Brew This Coffee

Dial in with accuracy

Because this coffee is expressive and fruit-forward, accurate dose and yield help you hit the sweet spot. We strongly recommend using a reliable scale — see our guide, The Best Coffee Scales, and our bench favourite, the Felicita Parallel.

Brewing tips

• Rest window: Follow the recommended 24–44 days off roast for best clarity and balance.
• Filter brewing: Start with a 1:16–1:17 ratio and a medium-fine grind, adjusting to balance florals and citrus intensity.
• Espresso: Start with a longer ratio (e.g. 1:2.2–1:2.4) to showcase tropical characteristics.
• Best recipe: Orea v4, 15.5g coffee, 250g water, 2:20 brew time.

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To try out more recipes from world-class coffee brewers, we've compiled this blog, featuring the best filter coffee recipes of 2026 from some of the world's best filter coffee brewers.

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