Organic Peru San Fernando

About the Producer

The San Fernando Cooperative is tucked away in one of the most remote and beautiful areas we have ever visited. After several flights to Lima, another flight to Ayacucho and a bouncy sixteen-hour car ride through the heart of the Andes, we were greeted by some of the kindest folks we've ever met on a sourcing trip.

This is our fifth year buying from the San Fernando Cooperative and they have become our largest single supplier of all of our relationship coffees. With just over four hundred members, the group is collecting coffee in many distinct areas in the valley of Incahuasi. On average, these are the highest elevation coffees that we have ever seen in South America with farm elevations stretching from 2000-2400 Meters. Over the past few years they have been investing very heavily in soil health and fertility to ensure many successful harvests to come. They have also created infrastructure to produce soil enriching micro-organisms, as well as worm composting to bolster overall coffee production for its members. Lastly, San Fernando has an excellent quality control program which keeps coffees separated by area and quality, allowing us to taste through and select coffees that are genuinely blissful in experience. 

About the Coffee

We've been tasting through all of these gems and are very excited for this special release. This lot is a special lot that came in from the tail end of the harvest and some of the highest altitude farms in this area. The higher zones ripen a bit more slowly and develop greater density and sweetness in flavor. New, lower-quality varieties have made their way throughout much of Peru, but the extreme isolation of this region has helped maintain the traditional varieties and practices that make these lots truly extraordinary, reminiscent of the ancient flavors of heirloom Typica and Bourbon. Most of this lot is processed centrally, meaning local producers bring freshly harvested coffee-cherries into one of four washing stations that are fermenting and drying the coffees with incredible detail and exacting standards. We attribute much of the excellence of these coffees to this style of processing versus traditional on farm processing which is the standard for most of Latin America. 

Why We Love It

The flavor profiles of coffees from San Fernando are very distinct and contrast the more heavily-fruited lots we see from Northern Peru. They are ever so sweet and remind us of candy bars with their mixture of roasted almond, nougat, maple, fudge profiles, all balanced by pleasant acidity and light citrus notes. Distinct and compelling, San Fernando is a densely rich coffee that speaks to the magic of Southern Peru, and our partnership with the cooperative.