Loro Verde, Peru

Origin

• 🇵🇪 Peru· Cajamarca

Tasting notes

Character

• Funky
  20

Region: Cajamarca, Jaen Producer: SmallholdersSmallholderA farmer growing coffee on a small family plot — often under two hectares. Most of the world's coffee is grown this way, typically pooled at cooperatives or washing stations. Altitude: 1600 - 1900 MASL Process: WashedWashed processThe fruit is removed from the seed before drying, usually with fermentation and a water rinse. Tends to give clean, transparent cups where origin character shows clearly. VarietyVariety (cultivar)The botanical subtype of the coffee plant — Gesha, Bourbon, SL28 — analogous to grape varieties in wine. A major driver of cup character alongside origin and process.: Mixed Tasting NotesTasting notesThe flavors a roaster perceives in the cup — 'jasmine, apricot, black tea'. Descriptive associations, not ingredients: nothing is added to the coffee.: Toffee, Plum, Stonefruit About Loro Verde Coffee arrived in Peru in the mid-1700s, first introduced to central regions before spreading north to areas like Cajamarca. Coffee cultivation in Cajamarca expanded much later and only really reached a turning point in the 1990s, particularly around the Jaén area, largely as a result of the cooperative movement. The favourable terroirTerroirBorrowed from wine: the way a place — soil, altitude, climate, even neighboring crops — expresses itself in the cup, independent of variety and process. and Andean–Amazonian transition climate created the conditions to produce clean, sweet, and expressive coffees, but it wasn’t easy to organise or access markets due to inadequate infrastructure and challenging, remote terrain. Most farms are smallholders with less than 5 hectares of land and are widely dispersed. Today, local cooperatives are able to aggregate production from hundreds to thousands of farmers, providing technical training and quality control, while facilitating direct export relationships. Loro Verde comes from smallholders in the high-altitude areas around Jaén, surrounded by pristine naturalNatural processThe whole cherry is dried with the fruit still on the seed. Gives heavier body and big fruit flavors — think berries and wine — sometimes with a fermenty edge. conditions. However, this potential isn’t always realised when producers don’t have the necessary infrastructure and technical support during key stages, from picking to drying, that maintain quality. The challenges in post-harvest processing stem from farmers receiving little to no training in the understanding and precision required to maximise the quality of their coffee. In 2018, international traders and sourcing partners at Falcon Coffee established an export company in Peru with the mission of being closer to producers. As part of their Peru operation, they set up a quality control lab and warehouse where producers can deliver their dried coffee, which is immediately assessed for score and price. Just after 1 – 2 years of operation, Falcon Coffee paid, on average, double the commercial market price for coffee in the region. Being close to the ground and actively m