Flor De Selva is the name of one of our value-added communal producer blend concepts. The coffee is made up of coffee from a group 72 producers. They are smallholders with 1-3 hectares each and are located in high altitudes close to the village Rumpite in La Coipa north of Peru. La Coipa is in the San Ignazio region, 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 different and higher. The altitude ranges from 1600 – 2100 masl. They mainly grow Caturra, Pache, and Bourbon. The farmers have their small individual beneficios where they depulp, ferment, wash and dry the coffee themselves. Fermentation time is normally between 13-18 hours. Drying takes 12-20 days. The lots are evaluated separately before they are approved as part of a high-quality communal producer blend. They are part of a training and quality support program called Solidario where they get trained on-farm practices and post-harvest production.

The Project

This Flor de Selva coffee is part of a sourcing program through an organisation called Origin Coffee Lab. Origin Coffee Lab started the project “Estrella Divina” in 2017, Flor de Selva came out as a name for coffees from the same group that was cupping differently with more florals. They are currently working with around 72 producers to produce the best quality coffee in the region. 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. Future Estrella Divina project priorities are to start planting varieties new to the region such as Bourbon and Yellow Caturra while continuing to improve on fermentation, drying, and storage processes.

They have great elevation, climate, and producers doing generally good farm management and processing practices, and the region’s potential for specialty coffees is high. A pretty unique microclimate is created in the area when warm air currents from the plains of Rumipite come up the mountainside and mix with cool, fresh air descending from the La Coipa mountains. Most producers here grow Bourbon, Pache, Caturra, and Catuai.