Producer: Smallholders
Location: Cajamarca
Altitude: 1,600 - 2,000 masl
Cultivar: Typica, Caturra & Catimor
Process: Fully washed
Flavour profile: Cantaloupe melon & butterscotch
Day lots of coffees from 15 different producers all over Cajamarca were purposefully blended together based on cup profile, one typical of the region. All of the day lots come from the early part of the harvest in high altitude areas, which were processed and dried on the producers’ farms. Most producers in Northern Peru have their own hand pulping machine and fermentation tank where they process the coffee, before drying it on their patio or raised beds. Once the coffees have been processed, farmers deliver them as parchment to the Falcon warehouse in Jaen, where they are graded, analysed for moisture content, roasted and cupped. This lot is a blend of lots from the middle of the harvest and is named after the large protected area near the city of Jaén.
Peru Overview:
(provided by Falcon coffees)
Falcon Coffees have been working in Northern Peru for several years, buying specialty coffee from cooperatives and associations with whom we have built lasting relationships. Whilst a lot of the arrival quality we have seen in previous seasons has been good, we have struggled to impact upon that quality or make improvements in the supply chain as we would like. More importantly, the premiums we had been paying for quality rarely makes it directly back to producers, something we have had very little control over in previous years.
In Peru, like some other origins, coffee farmers are sensitive to market changes and often lack basic training and the incentive to produce higher qualities of coffee, as premiums often don’t materialise. For these reasons we decided we needed to change the way we buy coffee in Peru and work directly with producers, allowing us to control and improve upon existing quality and have full financial traceability. Ensuring these two factors would help us to pay higher prices for the coffees and to make sure that producers received a fair price for the coffee they delivered us, above the market price. In order to do this, we set up a warehouse in Jaen and started to buy in parchment directly from producers.
The Cajamarca region holds a lot of potential for quality coffee, with ideal growing conditions and great varieties, but quality is often lost in picking, processing and drying, with producers lacking infrastructure and knowledge. The most vulnerable producers are those that are unassociated – those who aren’t members of a cooperative, association or organisation – and they represent 75% of producers in Northern Peru. These producers don’t have access to training sessions or premiums for quality or certifications, and their income is totally dependent on the market price. Often, local aggregators – a buyer who lives in the same area – will come to the farm or house of a producer and buy their coffee for cash before selling it on; in some cases, directly to an exporter or more often to other traders and middlemen. This results in the producer being paid very little for their coffee and a lot of quality coffee is lost.
This shift in approach to sourcing will allow us to forge long term relationships directly with farmers, improve the coffee quality we can offer from these areas and increase producer household income through access to quality premiums. We now have over 438 registered farmers across the San Ignacio and Jaen provinces.
(In partnership with Falcon Coffees)