Cacao & Nactarine
Harvest: September 2019
Country: Peru
Producer: Julio Rafael
Region: Jaén, Cajamarca
Process: Washed
Variety: Caturra, Bourbon
Altitude: 1780 masl
Arrival: Feburary 2020
It’s been a particularly tasty year for Peruvian coffee, and this lot produced by Julio Rafael is our final release of the season. Julio is the proud owner of La Lucuma, a 10 hectare farm in Northern Peru, where he tends to a mix of Caturra and Bourbon varieties. As a quality focussed producer, the coffee on the farm is selectively picked by hand and depulped within 24 hours. The coffee is then fermented and washed to remove the fruit flesh from the seeds, and dried slowly on raised beds for 20 days.
We always strive to have a diverse range of flavours on offer at all times, and we picked this coffee because it offers a nice contrast to the ripe, and slightly funky fruit flavours found in Eduardo Campos. This coffee is wonderfully rich, and you can expect notes of dark chocolate, black tea and a crisp nectarine acidity!
It’s interesting to compare the two coffees by Eduardo and Julio. Both lots are from the same region, grown under the same conditions and are made up of the same varieties. We believe the difference in taste is largely due to how each coffee was dried. Eduardo dries his coffee on the ground using plastic sheets, and Julio uses raised beds. It’s likely Julio experienced less fermentation during the drying period, which is why this coffee is a little bit more composed and less fruity.