When Pedro started growing coffee 30 years ago, a lot of producers were focused on producing quantity. Pedro however, has always focused on quality and proudly so! Las Peñas is the name Pedro landed on for his farm, due to the very large limestone rocks and crags that form part of his plot. These geological features trap organic matter and keep the land from eroding.

W H A T  D O E S  T H E  F U T U R E  H O L D ?

“Since we began working in coffee we’ve focused strongly on quality. In 2011 we won a competition with our coffee and this has motivated us to improve our processes even more so we can achieve an even higher quality.”

A R C O I R I S  P R O C E S S I N G  N O T E S :

Once the ripest cherries on Pedro’s farm are picked, they are immediately transported to the depulper. After the fleshy fruit of the coffee cherries has been removed, the coffee goes into the fermentation tank. The fermentation tank is a concrete basin, lined with ceramic tiles. The beans are dry fermented, a process that saves the use of water. The coffee is fermented for approximately 32 hours. After the fermentation is complete, the coffee is rinsed and moved into a bath of clean water. Here it rests for another 12 hours. The parchment coffee is completely clean now and ready to be dried. The coffee from the Las Peñas lot is dried in the direct sun for 6 hours over the duration of 6 days. Pedro makes sure that the coffee dries evenly by only having it dry in the sun from 9 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. While it dries, Pedro makes sure that the beans are dried every 20 minutes. Pedro’s is committed to produce the best green coffee he can and his precise way of tackling the processing ensures a high quality cup!