Key origin info:

Producer: Small producers from around La Coipa village in the Chirinos district within the San Ignacio province.

Region: San Ignacio, Cajamarca
Altitude: 1650-1900 masl

Varietals: Caturra, Catuai & Typica
Process: Washed

Cup profile: Creamy, milk chocolate & roasted almonds

About the Community Espresso range:

Our coffee offering is all about showcasing fresh in-season single-origin coffees while sharing stories of their origins and producers. With our house espresso, consistency of flavour profile all year around is paramount whilst ensuring freshness. With our community espresso we want
to bring in a little more variety in flavour and change up the coffee’s origin every few months whilst putting forward the great work that goes into producing coffee as part of a community within a certain region.

Coffees we are showcasing as part of this series are sourced from projects run or supported by our trusted exporting/importing partners, all with coffee growing communities at heart. The key element linking all these project is the aim to improve producers’ livelihoods through high quality coffee production whilst caring for the environment.

Our community espresso celebrates the hard work of these producer groups whilst bringing you a flavour profile suited for classy espresso based drinks – black and with milk. Expect a coating creamy body, milk chocolate and just the right amount of subtle fruit notes characteristic of the coffee’s origin to liven up the cup.

About Por El Cambio project:

Meaning FOR CHANGE, this project has been established in Cajamarca, Northern Peru by our importing partner Falcon Coffees in 2018. The vision was to work directly with small producers who aren't associated with or able to sell their coffee through local cooperatives. They represent a large proportion of coffee producers in Northern Peru and are usually based in remote areas with little or no access to training and price premiums adequate to the quality of coffee they are able to produce. This can leave their income often dependant on local aggregators who buy their coffee at farm for cash before selling it on which results in the producers being paid very little and the potential and quality of their coffee being lost.

Falcon's team on the ground in Peru, have now established relationships with over 250 small producers who bring their coffee in parchment directly to their warehouse where individual lots are graded, yield calculated and assessed for quality. According to the physical quality and sensory score of their coffee producers are offered a price which they can accept or refuse. When accepted, producers are then paid on the same day according to a transparent system (based on cup score and yield). This often means they receive premiums well above the local market price and choose to sell to Falcon as the quality of their coffee is appropriately rewarded. Aside from gaining access to a fair market, producers are also able to receive training on farm management, good harvest and processing practices.

More about La Copia, San Ignacio:

This lot is a blend of day lots from the producing community around the La Coipa village in San Ignacio district. Producers here pick, process and dry their coffee themselves and deliver it in parchment directly to the exporting warehouse. Here the day lots are assessed for quality and offered a price accordingly. Exceptionally high quality lots of adequate volumes are separated for micro-lot potential. The rest of the coffee still meeting quality standards is blended together to create a larger volume regional lot. This creates a lot with flavour profile characteristic of the area and also helps to maximise producers’ income with quality premiums for a larger proportion of their harvest.

During harvest produces usually hand-pick their coffee themselves with the help from family and neighbours before processing it at their houses. Each family typically have their own small wet mill set up with a de-pulper and a fermentation tank. As is the case in most of Northern Peru, drying beds and tents are still not very common and most producers dry their coffee on tarpaulin mats. Even with very simple processing methods, the coffee quality in the area can be outstanding. Over the past three years we've sourced community lots from a few localities in the Cajamarca region, they all share some common qualities but also each have a distinctive character. We’re very excited to add this lot from La Coipa to our community espresso range, it fits in beautifully with its creamy body and super comforting flavour profile with bags of milk chocolate, roasted almonds and raisins bringing in a little bit of pleasant mellow acidity.