How to Prepare Your CoffeeEcuadorian Café Lojano
Café lojano is the pride of Ecuador's southernmost coffee province, where high-altitude arabica from the hills around Puyango has carried home the country's Taza Dorada trophy for quality year after year. The home method needs nothing more complex than a pitcher and a strainer: coarse grounds steep loose in hot water for a few minutes, rest again to let the last of the grit settle, then get poured through a fine cloth — called a chucho around Vilcabamba, a manga elsewhere in the province — before the coffee ever reaches the cup. It's drunk black, strong enough to stand on its own, savored slowly rather than gulped, the same unhurried cup that welcomes any visitor who passes through a Lojano kitchen.
Ratio breakdown
Ingredients run from the top of the cup to the bottom; the last item is the bottom layer. Values are normalized to a true 100% stack.
What you need
- 1 cup (~200 ml), just off the boilWater
- 2 tablespoons (about 12 g), medium-coarse groundCoffee
Method notes
- Grind
- Medium-coarse — coarse enough to settle rather than stay suspended through the steep
- Water temperature
- Just off the boil, then poured hot
- Total time
- 8 min
Steps
Boil the water, then let it rest a few seconds
A few seconds off the rolling boil keeps the water from scorching the grounds the instant it lands — just short of boiling is what the tradition calls for, not a full boil poured straight off the heat.
Put the grounds in a pitcher and pour the water over them
Unlike a pour-over that keeps water and coffee apart until the last moment, this method mixes them from the start in an open pitcher — the whole steep, not just the first pour, is where the strength comes from.
Stir once, then let it steep for 2–3 minutes
One stir distributes the grounds evenly through the water; after that, the mix is left alone so the coffee extracts steadily instead of being agitated into over-extraction.
Let it rest a further 2–3 minutes, undisturbed
The second rest is what separates this method from a rushed cup — the heavier grounds settle further out of suspension, so the final strain comes through cleaner and the cup drinks without grit.
Strain through a fine cloth or mesh into the cup
The cloth (chucho/manga) or a fine mesh strainer catches what settling alone couldn't — it's the step that turns a steeped pitcher of grounds and water into a clear, drinkable cup.
Tips
- Don't cut the second rest short — the extra settling minutes are what keep the final strain clean; straining right after the first steep still pulls grit through.
- Loja's high-altitude arabica, especially from the Puyango area, has repeatedly placed among the country's best in the Taza Dorada competition — worth seeking out specifically if you can find it.
- The cloth filter's name changes by area — chucho around Vilcabamba, manga elsewhere in Loja province — but it's the same idea: a reusable fabric strainer, not a paper one.
Common mistakes
- Straining too soon — skipping the second rest leaves fine sediment still suspended, and it comes straight through into the cup.
- Stirring throughout the steep — the tradition calls for one stir and then stillness; constant agitation over-extracts and muddies the cup instead of clarifying it.
FAQ
What is a chucho or a manga?
Both are local names for the same thing — a reusable cloth filter used to strain the finished brew. Which name you hear depends on where in Loja province you are; a fine mesh strainer does the same job if a cloth one isn't on hand.
Why is Loja's coffee especially well-regarded in Ecuador?
Loja province has grown coffee at high altitude for more than a century, and its beans — particularly from the Puyango area — have repeatedly placed among the top entries in Ecuador's Taza Dorada quality competition, giving café lojano a reputation well beyond the province itself.
The Atlas
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