About This Coffee
Finca Churuyoc, owned by Juan Cancio Quispe, is located in the lush Challabamba subregion of Cusco, Peru. The region is accessible only in favorable weather conditions, and even then requires approximately six hours of travel from Cusco.
Born in the region of Yuraqmayu, Juan was one of the first in this region to produce coffee, where the primary activities are tourism and llama breeding. Juan cultivated his first hectare of coffee with his family's support and is now working to expand his farm.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Starting before sunrise, the red, ripe cherry is handpicked and is then taken to be processed on Juan Cancio’s farm. Once selected, the cherries are floated to remove any underripe or defective cherry before being pulped. After pulping it is fermented for 36 hours and then washed in clean water before being laid on covered wooden raised beds to dry. Parchment is raked frequently by hand to ensure even drying, taking up to 19 days for parchment to dry.
About Typica
Typica has widely been used to develop new varieties, making it extremely genetically important. Typica is characterized by tall plants, high cup potential and large beans. It is quite susceptible to disease, so most Typica crosses involve Timor or another disease-resistant variety. Quality-wise Typica is valued for its excellent cup quality, especially at higher altitudes. It was widespread across much of Central and South America, including Guatemala and Mexico, but most of the “old vine” Typica was destroyed during the Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) pandemic.
Source: https://perfectdailygrind.com/2020/04/the-typica-coffee-variety-what-is-it-why-is-it-so-important/ & https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/info/coffee/about-varieties/bourbon-and-typica & https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/varieties/typica
Valle Inca
Jose Prudencio founded Valle Inca in 2015. He is coffee man through and through and native to the region. He saw the rise and fall of the major secondary cooperative, COCLA, through his parents who were coffee farmers in the region. When COCLA collapsed, coffee farmers in the region struggled to access services and sell their coffees at fair prices. After working several farming-related jobs, Jose formed Valle Inca to serve coffee farmers in his home region and beyond.
Jose Prudencio is the driving force behind Valle Inca, he is supported by a small team of locals, many of them are the young adult children of coffee growers who belong to Valle Inca. The main focus of Valle Inca lies on improving living conditions for farmers through production of high quality coffee. By applying good agricultural practices and renovating with varieties focused on cup quality, Valle Inca has managed to turn things around for the 400+ producers in the network. With the vital support from an organisation like Valle Inca, producers are making fair wages and able to invest in their farms again.
For high-end lots in smaller volume with producer traceability, Cusco is a treasure trove. Prices for Valle Inca suppliers are higher than with other suppliers in the country, which is directly benefiting the producers behind each coffee. With the premiums, farmers are managing to improve their houses, invest in the farm and take good care of their families. Valle Inca exports to international markets as well as to the local market. You can find the coffees from the network in specialty coffee shops across the country.
Coffee in Peru
Peru holds exceptional promise as a producer of high-quality coffees. The country is the largest exporter of organic Arabica coffee globally. With extremely high altitudes and fertile soils, the country’s smallholder farmers also produce some stunning specialty coffees.
Though coffee arrived in Peru in the 1700s, very little coffee was exported until the late 1800s. Until that point, most coffee produced in Peru was consumed locally. When coffee leaf rust hit Indonesia in the late 1800s, a country central to European coffee imports at the time, Europeans began searching elsewhere for their fix. Peru was a perfect option.
Between the late 1800s and the first World War, European interests invested significant resources into coffee production in Peru. However, with the advent of the two World Wars, England and other European powers became weakened and took a less colonialist perspective. When the British and other European land owners left, their land was purchased by the government and redistributed to locals. The Peruvian government repurchased the 2 million hectares previously granted to England and distributed the lands to thousands of local farmers. Many of these farmers later grew coffee on the lands they received.
Today, Peruvian coffee growers are overwhelmingly small scale. Farmers in Peru usually process their coffee on their own farms. Most coffee is Fully washed. Cherry is usually pulped, fermented and dried in the sun on raised beds or drying sheds. Drying greenhouses and parabolic beds are becoming more common as farmers pivot towards specialty markets.
After drying, coffee will then be sold in parchment to the cooperative. Producers who are not members of a cooperative will usually sell to a middleman.
The remoteness of farms combined with their small size means that producers need either middlemen or cooperatives to help get their coffee to market. Cooperative membership protects farmers greatly from exploitation and can make a huge difference to income from coffee. Nonetheless, currently only around 15-25% of smallholder farmers have joined a coop group.