“In Spanish, Las Perlitas means “Little Pearls” and throughout the harvest, it’s quite common that small-holders in Ecuador produce lots that aren’t large enough to be exported on their own. However, the quality is often just as good (or better) than samples received from larger lots. As such, we buy all coffees, regardless of size and create a larger, export-size lot based on cup score and profile.

Every iteration of Las Perlitas can vary, with majority of the small lots coming from Colombia. We needed a way to award this kind of commitment without punishing for the lack of volume, because that is not what specialty coffee is all about.

We believe in the ever-improving quality at farm level, and it is only natural for us to exalt those who, with great passion and perseverance, achieve a micro-lot quality coffee. The idea of Las Perlitas was born from this train of thought.”