Peru: Irene Herrera - La Mandarina, Marshell, Washed

Origin

• 🇵🇪 Peru· Cajamarca

Tasting notes

Character

• Bright
• Clean
• Sweet
• Funky

Peru: Irene Herrera - La Mandarina, Marshell, 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. This elegant cup opens with a burst of tangerine followed by strawberry fondants and a spoonful of brown sugar. As it finishes, there's a little lime juice and a delicate floral note too. While looking through samples from Cajamarca in Peru, this Washed Marshell coffee really stood out on the cuppingCuppingThe standardized tasting ritual — coarse grounds steeped in hot water, crust broken, slurped from a spoon — used to score and compare coffees. table for its elegance and clarity. We were cupping with the Origin Coffee Lab team (our local exporters) and looking for something really tasty to fill a gap in our Peruvian coffee offering this year. When they shared the name of the producer with Roland - Irene Herrera - it was a light bulb moment. A Happy Coincidence The La Coipa district is nestled in the north east corner of the Cajamarca region of Peru. La Coipa is a fantastic coffee-producing area - the locale of Nima Juarez (El Roble and La Quebrada) whose coffee we have enjoyed in previous years, and Kelvin Guerrero (La Esmerelda) whose coffee we released earlier this year. In 2022 Roland went to Peru for the first time, after we had purchased some coffees from there the year previous. It was his first trip with Origin Coffee Lab - who we’re now lucky enough to know well - and they headed to the La Coipa village. Through the course of the morning they walked past several coffee farms, finishing up at their destination for lunch at the house of head of Gallitos de Rocas comite, Milciades Minga… and his wife Irene Herrera! Hospitality and Horticulture The couple's house is a little larger than some other nearby houses, maybe because Milciades is also a carpenter. The top floor is used for drying coffee, with living space and kitchen below. Guinea Pigs are kept inside in a pen - a staple food animal in Peru, known as Cuy (pronounced Coo-ee). Alongside a big lunch by Irene, they enjoyed an excellent fruit punch made in a barrel by mixing fruit juice and the local cane sugar spirit Yonke. The farm La Mandarina is just behind the house and includes a small nursery