El Eden is a coffee from a new group for our value added communal producer blend concepts. It fits into a coffee category from Peru we refer to as Fruta Madura, meaning clean complex washed coffees that have an additional element of fruity and sometimes even ferment flavours which add complexity and sweetness.

This specific lot is made up of coffee from 10-15 producers. They are smallholders with 1-3 hectares each, and are located in high altitudes close to the village Eden in San Jose del Alto, in the north of Peru. Jaen is one of the main producing regions in the north of Peru. The producers are part of a coffee quality program and are all organic certified. The producer premiums are high and fair compared to many other programs, but the expectations of quality are also higher.

The altitude ranges from 1550 – 2220 masl. They mainly grow Caturra, Catuai, Pache, Tipica and Bourbon. The farmers have their small individual beneficios where they depulp, ferment, wash and dry the coffee themselves. Some ferment the coffee cherries overnight in bags before they are pulped in the morning. Fermentation time after depulping is normally between 15-48 hours. Drying takes 12-25 days. The lots are evaluated separately before they are approved for this high quality communal producer blend. The farmers are part of a program called Solidario where they receive training on farm practices and post harvest production.

The Project:

The El Eden coffee is part of a quality program through an organisation called Origin Coffee Lab.

The coffees called El Eden are coming from a group of 10-15 producers in the small hamlet (village) Eden in the San Jose del Alto district. They are referred to as a “comite” and collaborate to produce higher quality coffees to maximise farmer income and premiums. As the farms are small you need several producers to make up a bigger lot or a container of coffee. And with 10-15 producers the production will be limited to some hundred bags.

Origin Coffee Lab is working with these groups to improve basic routines, cleanliness and this year the producers increased quality through better processing and drying protocols. In the last few years, they started a new program called Solidario, giving all the producers training, market access, finance, and feedback about quality. For these coffees, the producers are taught how to implement a more controlled fermentation process and monitor drying time based on hours of sunlight.

The farms:

A typical farmer within this program will have just above 2 hectares on average, planted with coffee. They are organic certified. The equipment can be extremely simple, but coffees can still be amazing. Some have their own parabolic dryers, others dry on plastic outside their farms, or use a drying facility at their neighbour’s or relative’s place. It sounds rough, but the truth is that we have seen amazing coffees, well dried on plastic just outside their front door.

Varieties:

As in most places in northern Peru the varieties of the group will often be mixed, and many of the trees have been in the region for almost 40 years. They mainly have local Caturra, Catuai, Bourbons, some typical, and Catimor. But Catimor is both rare and diminishing. The local producers call the non-Catimor trees “Bourbon” or “Costa Rica,” even if they could be Caturras or Catuai, etc.

Picking:

The farms are family operations and everyone will normally contribute. A few might have employed pickers in the harvesting season, but the farmers and family members also help each other picking coffee in the harvesting season. They have something called “Mingas” that means today for you, tomorrow for me. They will try to pick in passes according to when they have enough ripe cherries on the trees.

Processing:

After harvesting they will pulp and ferment the coffees in their micro mills at the farms. It’s normally a small pulper and a wooden or concrete fermentation tank. But many are also fermenting in bags.

Within this group there are two main methods of processing. In the first method cherries are picked in the morning and floated immediately after harvesting to remove overripe and defective cherries. The next day, very early in the morning, the producer will remove the skin and fruit with mechanical de-pulpers. The second method involves pulping the cherries in the mechanical de-pulpers immediately after harvest. In both cases, the process is without water, meaning dry fermentation. They generally ferment in tanks or bags from 15 to 24 or 48 hours. After that they will wash and rinse the parchment before it’s moved for drying.

Drying:

The farmers in this place dry most of the coffee on a plastic tarp or have small polypropylene tents on the ground, under a shade. They will properly cover the parchment at night. Only 2 of the 12 producers dry on tables. The drying time is 12-25 days, targeting moisture levels between 9-11%.

Our sourcing program:

The coffees are either micro-lots or communal or cooperative producer blends from the areas in the north around Jaen and San Ignacio. The farms are normally between 1-3 hectares and are family run. They harvest, pulp, ferment and dry the coffees at the farms. If the producers are part of a premium program, like ours, they will more likely invest in their production and sit on enough parchment to create potential micro-lots or improved community blends.

So far most of our coffees are coming from small caserios (villages) in La Coipa, Colosay, San Ignacio and other similar places. These are all places that we have identified with great potential through selective cupping. We also know that our exporting partner is investing in the producer relations there with support on quality protocols, traceability programs and premiums.

The concept for us is the same across the communities where we source. We select micro-lots of the coffees that are high performing at lot sizes between 10 – 20 bags. And we try to buy producer blends from the same areas as much as we can. The program is based on good premiums paid to the producers across all our coffees. To invest in the communities is crucial to get a consistent supply and to give the farmers incentives to invest in producing quality year after year.