This coffee's story

Pepe Jijón, whose full name is José Ignacio Jijón, is one of the most respected and unconventional figures in modern specialty coffee. Based in Ecuador’s Intag Valley, he is the founder of Finca Soledad, a farm that has come to represent precision, restraint, and quiet elegance in coffee production.

What makes Pepe’s story remarkable is that coffee was never the plan.

Before becoming a producer, Pepe lived an entirely different life. He was a professional mountain climber and guide, deeply connected to nature and exploration. He became the first Latin American to climb the Seven Summits solo, a feat that required extreme discipline, patience, and respect for natural forces. These qualities would later define his approach to coffee, though at the time, he had no idea.

A serious motorcycle accident marked a turning point. During recovery, Pepe reassessed his life and chose a slower, more grounded path. He bought land in the Intag Valley with the intention of reforestation and conservation, not agriculture. Locals suggested that coffee might grow well there. He planted coffee trees almost experimentally — and at that point, he didn’t even drink coffee. Starting a coffee farm from scratch proved to be one of the hardest challenges of his life. Pepe has said that building Finca Soledad was more difficult than climbing Everest. He had no formal agricultural background, little infrastructure, and Ecuador at the time was largely overlooked in the specialty coffee world. Progress was slow, expensive, and uncertain.

What set Pepe apart was his obsessive attention to detail and his refusal to rush. Instead of chasing volume or trends, he focused on understanding his land: altitude, microclimates, soil health, fermentation behavior. He experimented carefully with varieties and processing methods, always aiming for clarity, balance, and elegance, rather than intensity or shock value.

When his coffees finally reached international audiences, notably after presentations at events like World of Coffee Milan, they stood out immediately. They were not loud or aggressive. Instead, they were floral, tea-like, refined, with subtle sweetness and herbal complexity. Buyers and roasters recognized something rare: coffees that demanded attention and rewarded patience.

Pepe’s work has since earned global recognition, including the Sprudge Award for Most Notable Coffee Producer, one of the industry’s highest honors. His coffees are now sought after by top roasters worldwide.

Despite the acclaim, Pepe remains outspoken about the realities of coffee production. He emphasizes that good coffee is the result of hard, risky, often invisible labor, and he challenges the industry’s expectations of cheap prices and instant results. Sustainability, for him, is not a marketing term but a necessity — environmental, economic, and human.

Today, at Finca Soledad, Pepe continues to produce coffees that reflect his philosophy: lightly roasted, floral, herbal, precise, and restrained. Coffees that don’t perform for attention, but reveal themselves slowly, much like the man behind them.

His journey from extreme mountaineering to coffee farming is not a story of reinvention, but of continuity: the same respect for nature, the same patience, the same understanding that the most meaningful experiences are quiet, demanding, and deeply rewarding.

Processing

The SyOxy washed process, short for Symbiotic Oxidative Washed, is a modern and highly controlled evolution of the traditional washed method. It is designed to build complexity while preserving clarity, balance, and elegance in the cup, making it especially suitable for producers who want fermentation character without overshadowing origin expression.

At its core, the SyOxy process combines oxygen exposure and controlled anaerobic fermentation in sequence. It begins with whole coffee cherries fermenting aerobically in an open environment. During this phase, oxygen allows native yeasts and bacteria to develop in an oxidative setting, encouraging the formation of aromatic precursors and gentle acidity modulation. Rather than producing heavy or overt fermentation notes, this stage tends to enhance floral aromatics, tea-like structure, and subtle fruit complexity.

After the oxidative fermentation, the coffee is pulped and transferred into a sealed tank with its mucilage still intact. This marks the anaerobic phase, typically lasting around 48 hours. In the low-oxygen environment, microbial activity becomes slower and more controlled. Sugars and acids are metabolized in a more selective way, refining mouthfeel and sweetness while maintaining precision and restraint.

This two-stage fermentation is what gives the process its “symbiotic” nature. The aerobic phase expands aromatic range and lift, while the anaerobic phase brings structure, balance, and textural depth. Together, they create complexity without weight or excess.

Once fermentation is complete, the coffee is fully washed to remove remaining mucilage and stop microbial activity. This washing step is essential to preserve cleanliness and ensure that fermentation remains a supporting element rather than the dominant flavor driver.

Drying is slow and carefully managed, using a combination of indirect and direct sunlight over approximately 20 days. Indirect drying stabilizes moisture and protects delicate aromatics, while controlled exposure to direct sunlight helps lock in sweetness and prevent underdeveloped or vegetal flavors. The extended drying period promotes even water activity and contributes to long-term stability.

In the cup, coffees processed using the SyOxy washed method typically show high clarity and definition similar to classic washed coffees, an airy, tea-like structure, soft and integrated sweetness, subtle floral and herbal complexity, and minimal fermentation-driven intensity.

Overall, SyOxy washed processing is a method focused on nuance and balance. It does not aim to impress through bold or exaggerated flavors, but instead rewards attention and patience, aligning naturally with producers who prioritize elegance, precision, and transparency.