A trip from way back in 2006, with images of farms, coffee cooperatives, and highland kitsch. Regions of Cuzco, Quillabamba, San Martin, Huallaga, Tarapoto, Lamas…
I have been meaning to get to PeruPeruvian coffees have Central American brightness but in a South American coffee flavor package overall. The good organic lots do have more of a "rustic" coffee character.: Organic... ...more, not because I think the coffee is so amazing and great, but because I know the potential is there. But in general the offerings can be so disappointing.
(Note: these are my thoughts on Peru in 2006, a very different time when bulk Peru OrganicGrown without the use of artificial fertilizers, herbicides, etc.: Organic coffee has been grown according to organic farming techniques, typically without the use of artificial fertilizers. Some farms... ...more containers was the norm in the US. Brokers even talked of “Peru Flavor” which was basically a type of uncleanA general negative description of dirty or hard flavors in a coffee that should have none. These are flavors without positive qualities, that distract from the cup. Also... ...more taste from poor processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural... ...more. Things have changed so many years later-T)
Sure, each year I have cupped many lots and always find something nice. But real cup quality is a product of consistency, and with that in mind, the Peru coffee market has nearly doomed itself to failure.
The problem has many roots, but in general, Organic (and Fair TradeFair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach to empowering developing country producers and promoting sustainability.: Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach... ...more) certification has not been the answer for Peruano coffee farmers, nor the answer for coffee enthusiasts in terms of cup quality. Organic and FT coffees might have good cup quality, but it is almost as accidental as non-certified lots having good cup quality.
In very few Associations and Coops is there a cupperOne who cups, or tastes and evaluates, coffee.: A cupper is a person who performs the somewhat formal analysis of coffee quality, called cupping. See the definition of... ...more who actually roasts and samples each separate lot as they come in. Incoming coffee is mixed before it is ever evaluated, in most cases, which results in the lowest common denominator in terms of the cup.
Peru pinned its star to Organic certifications but has now become the “Vietnam” of Organic arabicaArabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the taxonomic species name of the genus responsible for around 75% of the worlds commercial coffee crop.: Arabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the... ...more coffee, the quantity (not quality) supplier, and that means a race for the bottom in terms of price. Another interesting fact: farmers do not know how much their coffee sells for, and do not know what they will receive.
This is usually true in terms of the price paid by the importer, often true in terms of the exporting agent, but here the farmer doesn’t even know what their own Coop gets for the coffee, the organization they are members of! Incredibly, the farmer doesn’t know what the organic premium is, and most incredible of all, they don’t know what they are supposed to receive even when the coffee is Fair Trade certified. It is an opaque system to the farmer, not an open transparent system.
And, like many producing origins, the farmer does not cup … when (and if) they drink coffee on their farm they drink Nescafe or the like. Farm practices are a problem too, especially moisture content and drying. Anyway, all of this makes Peru a challenge, but the fact is that the farmers and many others really, really want things to change, and the potential in terms of high altitude micro-climates is remarkable.
The coffee culture, while sullied, is not at all down for the count, which makes me only want to work more to develop relationships and get some fantastic Peru coffees. And we want to do it in a totally open system, where we can be sure the farmer is paid well. Additionally, we are going to provide support for improvements in patio-dryingPatio-drying is a term to indicate that a coffee was dried in the sun after processing, on a paved or brick patio. Drying in the sun is the... ...more of the coffee, and good handling to maximize cup quality.
Don’t take all my criticism the wrong way: I don’t have the answers, but like many Peruanos I want to see the system get better and the cup quality improve. And I want all the farms to stay Organic, and make sure FT is doing what it is supposed to for the producer. After all, I haven’t put in the work on behalf of Peru, but sometimes a first exposure to a situation offers the freshest look. If 395 photos (edited down from 800+) is an indication, I really do like Peru. – To
Okay that night we did our calibration cupping and next day we went to work. Her is Mr Hisashi Yamamoto from Kyoto -Osaka Area. He has a roasting business and cafe called Unir, spanish for unite. Peru 
Farmers of the Canelon Cooperative Peru Juan’s catimor was beautiful – the cherry was huge and had a very juicey flavor. Yes, I suggested when it comes time to replace he think about using local Typica. But I didn’t need to say anything. He already knew that. Peru Before anyone starts getting all righteous about Catimor, I ask them if they have cupped it. Usually no, and I suspect those who have would have trouble picking it out of a lineup of coffees. I am as against this high-yield, hearty cultivar as the next guy, but look at the farmer’s point of view. It’s dumb to have roasters go to origin as missionaries with an orthodox prescrption for quality: we need to be openminded and cup! I have found catimor between 3-6 years old with good cup quality! But the plant implodes – it burns itself out (I beleive.) Here you can see the abundant closly spaced cherry on a branch. Peru Of course the prize money and fame sorta encourages the fighting … it’s not just “natural chicken aggression” as some might argue. Peru 
A lovable face? Not sure… Peru Another nice view of soem fairly nasty looking coffee being dry-processed. Peru But this gives an indea how bad it was. The passengers walked and the driver, somewhat nonplussed, took it across with only one iffy moment for the right front tire (right there in the foreground). Peru We came upon this very large (with legs, 4-5 inche diameter) spider among his trees, and it is supposedly quite venemous. If anyone wants to help me identify it, I would appreciate it… Peru AND the highest cup evaluation ever performed – we discuss the finer points of the Cusqueno coffee while our eyes bulge with pressure and our chests feel like someone is bearhugging (or heimliching) from behind. Peru Our special guest at dinner that night. Peru No there’s something that’s a bit more difficult to cut all misty-eyed about! Peru One of the daughters of Juan still at home. One is in Collegio (High School) in Quillabamba, living with an aunt. 2 more are in a part time boarding school; 15 days away, 15 at home. 1 daugter and son are at home. It’s hard in farm life to keep the kids in school, one reason a guy like this benefits so much from better coffee prices (by the way, we are buying a microlot this year at 100% over the market rate and more than 50% more than fair trade price). Peru KC Doing the oxygen between sips. HE couldn’t get the regulator right, and I think it ended up doing more harm than good, seeing that HE is the one who really got sick on the descent. Peru So he followed me over when I was checking out their hand pulped (quite dirty, but they were using it that day…) and we had this photo op. together. Peru And notice how I take cherry home to grow my own plants, part of my now rather extensive collection of coffee plant material. Peru MY walk around Quillabamba and photos of paintings, signs and storefronts – I really like these things. And I always get a laugh out of chickens serving chickens etc. Peru Ms Yuko, and a Yucca plant, Peru 2006 Peru Really handsome people here… His father was there, the farmer, and we got information on how to contact him in case his coffee cupped out well. An enterprising fella: he had a bag of parchment coffee all ready to go! It was good altitude, and this area, Yantile valley, has had good altitude in the past. So who knows… Peru Here is full natural coffee, cherries (that probably dried right on the tree) laid out on the tarp to dry. When we find them in coffee we call them pods. Then in one step you pull off the dried peel and parchment, revealing the 2 green beans. All defect sorting is them visual, since it was never floated through channels to find beans without denisty, nor run through a criba to remove underripes. Peru And this one we will call no-smilum because she had this look no matter what you tied to do to amuse her. Peru La Chancha de Juan. Just liekd this picture a lot. Peru Not the Adean who dresses up at the airport for tips … this is the daughter of a sherherdess who was high up on the hill. (we stopped for a picture of the view). I could hear her urging her daughter to come meet us in anticipation of coin or what have you. She ended up with a handsome bag of small breads. Peru The sample roaster was this custom made Peruano machine and the roaster Zulay, did a nice job. Peru …. so he got his friend involved into the game Peru My little buddy. He thought he was a real “Perro Bravo” but would run insde the house as soon as you moved toward him. Peru 
Inside the restaurant, some compelling artwork. I guess this is really what the local Quechua/Amazonia people look like. Egad! Peru My favorite doorway in town Peru Which scorches coffee fairly easily but works okay … Peru Here is a good example of rustic pulped coffee. Yes, it was depllped of its skin, but much skin and mucilage remains. Chances are it was overripe and underripe, and wasn’t properly fermented to break down and wash off the mucilage layer. Done well, this can be a good style of coffee, but this parchment has no hope of being good. Peru We headed out to visit a cooperative that I have interest in, based on cupping samples: Las Delicias. The are about 1.5 hours out of Quillabamba, probably 20 minutes as the crow flies but that’s not how things work here. Plus this Semi was stuch at a turn in the road crossing a creek – took a while for them to figure that out. Peru A super large chicken welcomes you… Peru KC talks about the trasparent, open pricing structure based on cupping scores that we are going to put forward – this way everyone knows how cup quality affects price, and the reward for better farming, cherry selection, drying, etc. I am very excited about the idea, and even the lowest premium is above Fair Trade prices (which the farmer usually doesn’t even know … another issue to get into later) Peru It gets nippy there and I brought down some hats for freinds, but I still felt like, for .02 seconds there (well, and everytime I see this picture) a crass marketer of some kind. I hate when people go down and take pictures of themselves with kids. Then again, I bet there are some days this year that hat will keep a head warm (we used them going over the pass to Urabamba ourselves). And I DO what Juan to remember me because I want him to prepare some nice coffee for us next year. Peru 
Here’s lookin’ at you, babe. Peru A bit dusty, but still tres magnifique. 95% of his trees are the traditional Typica, green leaf type. This is one of the huge advantages Peru possess: good cultivar, despite all the problems. Peru Typical trees at Canelon, with good spacing and shade, Typica Cultivar Peru And this is wet-processed parchment. It’s not the best quality, but this coffee was depulped, fermented (I was told it requires 20 hours at this altitude and climate, washed and laid out to dry. Drying coffee like this in Peru is something we want to change, introducing pastic solar tarps that go over raised drying beds, a bit like a modern dome-roofed greenhouse but open on the ends – this keeps coffee safe from showers, allows for more heat buildup, and air movement around the coffee. Peru
Believe it or not … More Photos
Ok so i take a lot of pictures. In fact below is the complete set I had originally published, each thoughtfully (!) captioned. Sadly all that title and caption data was lost. But here are 360 glorious photos from that Peru trip way back when…
2 Responses
Great photos of Peru. Felt like I had made to trip too after seeing the photos.
Thank you! This trip was so long ago that viewing the pictures made me feel like it was somebody else’s journey too… and I was there!