Peru La Palma

This lot was produced by 3 smallholder farmers: Alindor Mirez, Luciano Mendoza & Jaime Marino Guevara. The lot name ‘La Palma’ was chosen as it is the town closest to the farms of all three producers. The farms are small, at around 3 hectares each, and are named after trees that grow within their confines: La Naranja (the Orange Tree), El Laurel (the Laurel) and El Nispero (the Saspodilla).

Around 50% of this lot is composed of coffee produced by Alindor Mirez, a small scale producer who has been farming coffee all his life in this region. For all three, coffee is their main economic activity. They are very committed to improving their understanding of quality so that they can place his coffee on the speciality market. Santuario supports them in these efforts.

All three use the same strict harvest and processing methods so as to ensure that the natural potential of their coffee is maintained. During the harvest, coffee is selectively handpicked with only the ripest cherries being harvested at each pass. These cherries are then hand-sorted to ensure no underripe or damaged cherries make it into the fermentation tanks. The coffee is pulped on the same day that it is picked. After pulping, it will then ferment in a tin or cement tank for up to 30 to 40 hours before being washed clean in pure water.

 

The specs:

Farms: El Nispero, La Naranja & El Laurel
Varietal(s): Yellow Caturra, Bourbon, Pache & Typica
Processing: Fully washed & dried on patios & finished in African beds
Altitude: 1,850 to 1,900 metres above sea level
Owner: Alindor Mirez, Luciano Mendoza & Jaime Marino Guevara
Town: La Palma, Chirinos
Region: Cajamarca
Country: Peru
Total size of farms: 9 hectares total
Area under coffee: 9 hectares total
Certification: Organic

Peru La Palma
Peru La Palma – the farmers
Santuario/Sanctuary

The name – “Santuario/Sanctuary” – refers to the fact that all the farms working as a group are in the buffer zone of the Tabaconas – Namballe National Sanctuary. This environmental placement is important to Santuario, as the company prioritises environmental conservation and biodiversity.

Santuario’s main objective and activity is to work in cooperation with small producers and producer organisations in order to promote coffee quality improvement. The business not only helps with market access, but they also assume the role of agricultural extension – or technical field assistance – where individuals with agricultural expertise and training advise on all aspects of soil fertility, cultivation techniques, harvesting, post-harvest and, generally, improvement of quality. The coffee that the organisation works with comes from varied and unique production areas of the Cajamarca region. With diverse microclimates and high soil quality, they’ve identified practices that enable individual producers to instil the very best quality in their diverse lots. The focus, then, is on the production of small, distinct and unique high-quality micro lots…. And of course on making sure that these very special coffees find the right home with speciality roasters.

Ultimately, Santuario aims to help producers in one of Peru’s most impoverished but also promising (coffee-wise) districts to find sustainable markets for their coffee and improve their livelihoods. Mercanta is excited to be able to help them achieve this goal.

 

Conclusion

In the cup expect sweet orange marmalade and peach flavours with fruity acidity and medium body. Best suited for espresso, pourover and Aeropress

View our full coffee offering here.