Looking for a delicious, single-origin addition to a winter menu? Please look no further than these new, certified arrivals from Peru.
The world’s ninth-largest producer of coffee, and one of the leading producers of Organic and Fair Trade coffees, Peru is known for its soaring mountainsides, lush forests and generations of environmentally-minded practices. These factors can combine to create stunning cup profiles, especially in careful and experienced hands.
Most producers in Peru are smallholders and, encouraged by the Agricultural Ministry in Peru, have joined with others to create cooperatives and farmer organizations. Last year, new certified pricing standards — intended to benefit producers — wound up dampening purchasing interests and having an opposite effect that unfortunately hurts producers and co-ops the most.
This year, we warmly encourage you to support these excellent efforts, to sample and explore, and to please share your thoughts with us!
Freshly harvested cherries by the Aprocassi cooperative in Cajamarca.
1. Peru Aprocassi Organic SHG
The Aprocassi cooperative was founded in 2000 by likeminded producers who wanted to band together to mitigate climate change and protect their lands from encroaching mining companies. Together, they’ve creating a thriving coffee community and driven a reforestation project.
This coffee was grown on members’ farms between 1,000 and 1,600 masl; cherry was sorted through floatation, machine pulped, underwent between 18 and 24 hours of anaerobic fermentation, was washed in ceramic containers, sorted again through sieves and dried in the sun on patios.
Cupping notes: Pineapple, lemon, nougat, pecans; sweet, clean finish. (Annex North, approx. 8 bags)
2. Peru El Oso Fair Trade Organic
Washed and sun-dried, El Oso (“The Bear”) represents 40 of the 453 producer members of the COOPAFSI cooperative in San Ignacio, Cajamarca. The group’s logo is the “bespectacled bear” (tremarctos ornatus), an endangered animal that lives in the forests around their land — and which they help to protect through their Organic practices. They appreciate that the bears act as pollinators, moving pollen through the trees on their thick fur and opening up space in the upper levels of the forest that allow sunlight to germinate plants in the lower forest.
We were excited to create a special logo for this coffee, featuring El Oso.
Cupping notes: Blackberry, fig, caramel, lime. (Annex North; approx. 190 bags)
3. Peru El Santuario Fair Trade Organic
This microlot comes from Don Anibal Jaime, a “star producer” within COOPAFSI. Don Anibal’s strict attention to enhancing quality certainly comes through in the cup. Thanks to guidance from the cooperative, he has also diversified income on his farm with other endeavors.
Cupping notes: Maple, raisin, raspberry; citric acidity, silky body. (Annex North; approx. 19 bags)
Peru El Santuario Fair Trade Organic is a microlot from standout COOPAFSI producer Don Anibal Jaime.
Cooperativa Agraria Sangareni was founded in Pangoa (in the province of Satipo, in the region of Junín) in 2004 with 32 producers. Today, it has 318 members and a strong board of directors and managers who are active in the community, working to improve members’ lives. In 2010, the co-op achieved an early stated goal of purchasing land where members could dry coffee. In 2012, it played a major role in helping members to rebounded from coffee rust devastation. And in 2021, it was able to build a second warehouse, to strengthen its selling potential.
This coffee comes from producers in Chanchamayo and Satipo. This natural meeting point of the mountains and jungle results in lush valleys and diverse microclimates.
Cupping notes: Toffee, dulce de leche, orange zest, cola. (AFLOAT, arriving late January: CTI NJ, approx. 300+ bags; Annex North, approx. 285 bags)
5. Peru Finca Churupampa G1 Organic
Finca Churupampa is run by 162 producing members who farm organically and support a variety of income-diversifying practices on the property, including organic vegetable farming and raising pigs and fish. Coffee is hand pulped and dried on raised beds. Each batch is cupped in a controlled lab and separated by qualities. (Churupampa is pictured at the top of this post.)
Cupping notes: Orange, fig, toffee, custard, blackberry. (Annex North, approx. 20 bags)
6. Peru SHG G1 Organic
This is our standard Organic Peru offering, designed to meet a great price point and a cup quality (which this is mouth-watering). Like the other coffees, it comes from smallholder producers farming at high altitudes.
Cupping notes: Caramel, baked apple, date, vanilla. (CTI NJ, approx. 60 bags) •
InterAmerican Coffee Trader Pablo Lara at the COOPAFSI mill with the co-op’s sales lead, Luzmila Loayza.
Top photo: Finca Churumpampa.
