Peru has traditionally been known as a supplier for larger, commercial grade and certified lots of coffee – this has resulted in many producers becoming marginalised from the speciality market.

This was until our import partners, Falcon, set up the Blueprint program in the region of Jaen in Cajamarca focused on bringing about greater financial transparency for farmers in the region. To make this happen, a warehouse was set up to collect parchment coffee directly from the producers. This coffee was then sampled by a stringent QC team who would assign the sample a cupping score and it was on this basis alone that a price was determined for the producer who would receive the money on the same day. This is a pretty revolutionary initiative in this area and has seen producers receiving fair prices that have often doubled those on the local market. Not only has this brought about a more sustainable way of trading coffee in the area, it has also meant farmers are more willing to forge longer term relationships knowing their coffee will be assessed on its own merits. The initiative now incorporates over 400 local producers and Eli is one of them.

He came to the area as a teenager looking for work and started to pick coffee in the village – in time he was able to buy 4 hectares of his own land which he has planted out with coffee. By being involved in the Blueprint program and choosing to process coffee with specialty grade in mind, he is able to achieve so much more from his 4 hectares than he would do selling locally on the commercial market. Eli processes all of his coffee at his house in the village and has achieved amazing results with this natural lot – he washed and floated his ripe cherries before drying them for one day under shade. After this point they were moved to his parabolic dryer (a sort of tent with raised beds) to continue drying for another 45 days! This attention to detail and drawn out drying process has created a super refined cup displaying a touch of natural funk coupled with beautifully integrated acidity.