Espresso
Chocolate, mandarin, maple syrup
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Amazon |
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1,300-1,800 meters above sea level. |
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Catimor, Caturra and Typica |
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Washing |
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Small producers |
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2020 Harvest |
A specialty coffee from Peru with a purpose, produced by women
Women's Cafe
JUMARP (Juan Marco El Palto Coffee Producers Association) is doing extraordinary work revolutionizing coffee production in rural Peru .That's why we're very proud to support one of their innovative projects.
The El Palto Mujeres program supports gender equity in the community.
This certified organic batch was produced by several members of the Mujeres program, all of whom are, appropriately, women.
JUMARP model of change
JUMARP was founded in 2003 by José Carranza Barboza and 35 other small producers.The association was born from the desire to develop a new producer-centered model for growing and exporting coffee.
The cooperative noted that women were generally only peripherally involved in the cooperative and even more rarely involved in decision-making.
To address this, JUMARP created the Women program .
The program works to improve the social and economic position of its female members.
Start-up
To increase women's participation, they began by identifying the obstacles that hindered women's active participation and then began implementing measures to help these women become more involved.The Women program helps women develop their skills in decision-making, leadership, business management, and teamwork .
They also focus on building self-esteem so women have the confidence to share their new skills in public settings and with men.
Participants also receive sensory training and learn roasting skills to help them sell their roasted coffee at a local market and gain a better understanding of quality.
Harvest
In Peru, most small producers use a similar family production model.The farms are small, and most families pitch in to help with the work needed—from pruning to weeding and fertilization—to achieve a successful coffee harvest.
Women often contribute significantly to home coffee production, but their work is often overlooked, something the Women's Program is trying to change.
During the harvest season, the coffee is selectively hand-picked.
This labor-intensive process usually involves the entire family.
Some of the larger farms may hire local day laborers to help with the harvest.
Postharvest
After harvesting, the cherries are often hand-sorted to remove damaged or underripe cherries, and sometimes (depending on the family's processing system) floated in buckets or plastic containers to remove the lighter ones.After sorting, the cherry is pulped.
Most families have a manual or mechanical drum pulper on their own farm.
Once pulped, the coffee is fermented in a tank for at least 18 and up to 40 hours, depending on the climate (higher altitudes and lower temperatures require a longer fermentation time).
After fermentation, the parchment is washed with clean water. Drying infrastructure varies greatly across Peru.
Some growers use covered raised beds and others have a " sun tent ," an elevated drying room, often over a storage shed or even their house.
The parchment dries for about 20 days and, regardless of the drying method, is moved regularly to ensure even drying.
Our support for JUMARP El Palto Mujeres
Each year, our importing partner , Sucafina Specialty, commits to purchasing several containers of JUMARP coffee.They have expressed their passion for supporting the cooperative's mission, and we are delighted to support them in the fantastic work they are doing to improve coffee quality, promote organic farming practices, and strengthen gender equality in their communities.
JUMARP's commitment to purchasing coffee through thick and thin, even when harvests are difficult, means a lot to its members so they can depend on a certain level of income from their coffee year after year.
This guaranteed income contributes to the longevity of their community improvement projects and the quality of their coffee.
JUMARP Community Projects
The 188 members produce certified organic and fair trade coffee.The cooperative invests the premiums received from these certifications in several important community projects, including crop renewals, a fund for educational programs, and school construction.
One program we are particularly excited to support is their ambitious quality improvement program, which was launched in 2012.
Funded by Fairtrade and Organic premiums, as well as government funding and member contributions, the program aims to raise overall tasting scores to 85-86 by 2021.
They are on their way to controlling the quality of coffee at all stages of the production process.
They have implemented drying stations, manual pulping machines, and fermentation tanks on all of their member farms and have helped members plant higher-quality varieties.
With these steady advances toward their goal, we have seen a notable improvement in the quality of their coffee since the start of the program.
We look forward to continuing to support them as they achieve their goals and produce increasingly higher-quality coffees.
History of coffee in Peru
Peru has exceptional potential as a producer of specialty coffees. The country is the world's largest exporter of organic Arabica coffee.With extremely high altitudes and fertile soils, the country's small farmers produce some amazing specialty coffees.
Although coffee arrived in Peru in the 18th century, very little coffee was exported until the end of the 19th century. Until then, most of the coffee produced in Peru was consumed locally.
When coffee rust struck Indonesia in the late 19th century, a country essential to European coffee imports at the time, Europeans began looking elsewhere for a solution.
Peru was a perfect choice. Between the late 19th century and World War I, European interests invested significant resources in Peruvian coffee production.
However, with the advent of the two world wars, England and other European powers weakened and adopted a less colonialist perspective.
When the British and other European landowners left, the government bought their land and redistributed it to the locals.
The Peruvian government purchased the 2 million hectares previously granted to England and distributed the land to thousands of local farmers.
Many of these farmers then grew coffee on the land they received.
Coffee in Peru today
Today, Peruvian coffee growers mostly operate on a small scale. Peruvian producers typically process their coffee on their own farms.Most coffee is washed. The cherry is usually pulped, fermented, washed, and sun-dried on raised beds.
Drying stations and parabolic beds are becoming increasingly common as farmers target the specialty coffee market.
After drying, the coffee is sold in parchment paper to the cooperative. Producers who are not members of a cooperative usually sell to a middleman.
The distance between the farms, combined with their small size, means that producers need intermediaries or cooperatives to bring their coffee to market.
Cooperative membership largely protects farmers from exploitation and can make a significant difference in coffee income.
However, currently only about 15-25% of the country's small producers are part of a cooperative.
