Northern peru

Piura

It is exciting to journey to a new growing region in a country that is an annual cornerstone of the offering list. Upon first hearing of Piura, you are led to think of an oceanside city that experiences summer all year long. A place where lemon groves line the sea to celebrate the coexistence of life in the form of ceviche on the beach. The tropical desert resort life does sound interesting, but the real magic happens in the Piura Andes several hours from the sea. A five hour drive northeast takes you to higher elevations with drastically lower temperatures, from a coastal desert to the gateway of the deep jungle, the Huancabamba jungle offers you a different version of the beauty of Piura. Known as Ceja de Selva, a temperate, sparsely forested highland jungle shrouded in fog and shamanistic rituals, this is a unique coffee region in Peru that reflects the ancestral wealth of the land. 

The Las Huaringas Lagoons are located in the district of Carmen de la Frontera, within the province of Huancabamba in the Piura region, at the Ecuadorian border just east of Namballe in Cajamarca. This UNESCO protected area encompasses nearly 16,000 hectares of land that connects a series of lagoons that brings water from the mountains all the way to the sea. Many cultural uses of this area date back to pre-Inca times, as religious and ancestral uses have kept the shamanistic practice of the healers of the Huaringas alive to this day. Some of the earliest people in these mountains are believed to date back to 1550 BC. With ethnic groups of both the Andean and the Amazonian origins, the early settlers of the area have different types of cultural affiliations; the Tallanes came from the Andean sons of the Yungas, while the Guayacundos and Huancapampas have an Amazonian filiation with the Jibara.  The Tallanes were agriculturally gifted, engineering an irrigation canal system to extended excess water from the mountains further into the desert lands to increase the productivity of the fertile lands of Piura.

Some people believe that the spirits of plants need to be encouraged to grow with various songs, chants, and dances. Planting a garden becomes a ritualistic act, as you are building a place of great spiritual significance. Like the inside of a temple, the garden is a place where one receives sanctuary. This deep rooted respect for farming and protection for the land allows for coffee production to coexist in total balance with the preservation of the ecosystem. The natural result is a sustainable path to excellent quality coffee. The coffee harvest in Piura typically begins in August and peaks in October. All of the producers deliver their coffee in parchment, so they control the separation and processing of their own crop. Once the ripe cherries are picked, each farmer will depulp, ferment and wash the coffee on or near their farm, and typically dry the coffee in the second floor of their houses.  Most in the area do not fertilize their coffees, though some have begun make their own compost and purchase island guano. Once the coffee is stable and ready for delivery, producers will move the parchment from their farm to the local town by mule or horseback. Due to the limited access to these growing areas, trucks are hired 2-3 times a month to move the parchment to the drymill and warehouse in Namballe, Cajamarca. 

chaupe bajo

Luz Gladis Martinez Lizana

Bourbon, Pache, Typica

1650 masl

Luz Gladis Martinez Lizana has only known a life in coffee. Born in Chaupe Bajo, she’s cultivated coffee her whole life and is excited about the life she lives. Her 2 hectare farm is called El Pasaco, after a native medicinal tree that is abundant locally. She intersperses Bourbon, Pache, and Typica varietals among shade trees like Albizia and Pacay. Luz owns her own truck, so it’s off to the warehouse once the parchment is ready to move. She is an extremely passionate coffee producer and is a leading example in the area of ways to work towards quality and the benefits that come with such ethics. She believes that her dedication is what bring her national and international recognition in the future.

A snappy, yet rich tasting coffee that has plenty of say as it soothes your morning blues. Lively as the first sips bring crisp apple and blackberry to mind, then it slides into nutty confections. There’s cashew butter that mingles with black mission figs, both the raisin/berry taste of the fruit’s meat as well as the floral/herbal sapling taste of the skin. As the sweetness condenses, a cashew cream wafer cookie navigates us through the fudge like depths as the mild berries echo in the aftertaste. Lovely coffee, Luz, lovely. 

Rosarios Bajo

Caturra, Bourbon, Mundonovo

1600 masl

Rosarios Bajo is a coffee and sugar cane producing community near the Peruvian - Ecuadorian border. The village is part of the Chicuate - Chinguelas private conservation area, which protects the humid forests and highland plateaus of the western and eastern slopes of the Andean region of Piura, as well as several endangered species, such as the Andean cock of the rock, tapir, and spectacled bear. Rosarios Bajos is an area with good altitude, rich soils and an ideal microclimate for coffee production. This is a community lot representing 6 producers around the town of Rosarios Bajo growing Caturra, Bourbon, and Mundonovo varietals at 1,600 masl. 

A delightful display of depth where nuance laces the edges of this study profile. Melted milk chocolate and pecan cream give you a soothing feeling, as ripe raspberry and plum surface to add a touch of shine to this beauty. Vanilla bean and amber honey seems to keep the fruit in the candy realm. This lot has a comfort in texture like maple and cream that infuses itself into sipping chocolate, before finishing like pecans and praline. 

Rio Blanco

• Origin - Peru

• Region - Piura

• Province - Hauncabamba

• Municipality - Carmen de la Frontera

• Altitude - 1600-1800 masl

• Varieties - Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, Mundonovo, Pache