This is our first year buying coffee from Lucía and her first year selling coffee to Cultivar, our sourcing and export partners in Perú. With a more established presence in Europe, ours are among the first lots they've shipped to the United States, and we're thrilled to work together even more in the future.
Doña Lucía has always lived on her farm, which is just northwest of Jaén in the region of Cajamarca. The area of the farm under cultivation with coffee is planted with caturra, bourbon, and pache, high quality varieties known to perform well in Perú.
Lucía produces fully washed coffee using an extended fermentation in a hermetically-sealed environment. She begins by sealing intact coffee fruits in clean plastic bags and allowing them to ferment in a shaded location for 72 hours. She then depulps the coffee and seals it again, continuing fermentation with the mucilage exposed for another 48 hours. Once the second stage is complete, she washes the coffee in clean tanks and moves the parchment to solar dryers where it dries for approximately 12 days.
In addition to coffee, Lucía also grows crops like lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and lúcuma, a native fruit for which her farm is named. She reserves enough of these products for her family and sells the rest at the market in Jaén. Known to be industrious and entrepreneurial, she also buys cheese from her neighbors' surplus dairy production to sell along with her produce.
Since the 1980s cooperative style production has become very popular in Perú, establishing the country as a clear and logical choice for organic coffees in particular. But while certified coffees have offered producers slightly better insulation against the volatility of the coffee market, they have reinforced a style of production that emphasizes volumes over quality or specificity. Today we're excited to witness a growing interest in traceable, differentiated coffees aided by quality-oriented companies like Cultivar.
We're thrilled to offer Peruvian coffees on our single origin menu again and we're delighted to introduce Lucía's to you!
Doña Lucía has always lived on her farm, which is just northwest of Jaén in the region of Cajamarca. The area of the farm under cultivation with coffee is planted with caturra, bourbon, and pache, high quality varieties known to perform well in Perú.
Lucía produces fully washed coffee using an extended fermentation in a hermetically-sealed environment. She begins by sealing intact coffee fruits in clean plastic bags and allowing them to ferment in a shaded location for 72 hours. She then depulps the coffee and seals it again, continuing fermentation with the mucilage exposed for another 48 hours. Once the second stage is complete, she washes the coffee in clean tanks and moves the parchment to solar dryers where it dries for approximately 12 days.
In addition to coffee, Lucía also grows crops like lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and lúcuma, a native fruit for which her farm is named. She reserves enough of these products for her family and sells the rest at the market in Jaén. Known to be industrious and entrepreneurial, she also buys cheese from her neighbors' surplus dairy production to sell along with her produce.
Since the 1980s cooperative style production has become very popular in Perú, establishing the country as a clear and logical choice for organic coffees in particular. But while certified coffees have offered producers slightly better insulation against the volatility of the coffee market, they have reinforced a style of production that emphasizes volumes over quality or specificity. Today we're excited to witness a growing interest in traceable, differentiated coffees aided by quality-oriented companies like Cultivar.
We're thrilled to offer Peruvian coffees on our single origin menu again and we're delighted to introduce Lucía's to you!
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