Peru El Condor

This lot is a blend of day lots from the El Condor village in the Huabal district. The producers in El Condor all have between 1 and 3 hectares of land and mostly grow caturra and bourbon varieties, but recently they have started to plant more catimor varieties due to the increasing damage from coffee leaf rust. Once picked, cherries are depulped and fermented for around 24 hours, usually in bags as very few producers in El Condor have tanks, before they are washed and placed on a patio to dry. Because of the high altitude, the coffee takes a little longer to dry in this area compared with other villages, and usually takes around 10 to 14 days. Each producer picked, processed and dried their own coffee before it was delivered to the Falcon warehouse in Jaen.

Peru is one of the world's top ten coffee producers—number one when it comes to organic coffee—with smallholders making up the vast majority of growers. Nearly 225,000 families rely on coffee for the majority of their income.

For the first century after its introduction from Ecuador in the mid-18th century, coffee was grown primarily for domestic consumption. However exports began to grow towards the end of the century and when the Peruvian government defaulted on a loan to the British in the early 1900s it offered 2 million hectares of land as payment—much of which was promptly converted into coffee plantations which helped boost production.

Like much of Latin America, coffee production in the early days was dominated by large landowners, although land reform and other changes in the mid-20th century shifted ownership towards smaller farmers. Today Peru is the world's 9th largest exporter of coffee, and top when it comes to organic coffee, with smallholders making up the majority of growers.

Did you know?

• Coffee plantations occupy as much as 40% of farmland nationally, and up to 70% of farms situated in the Peruvian highlands.
• Peru is the world's largest exporter of organic coffee, with roughly 90,000 hectares certified organic. In addition, a large portion of the country's coffee is organic by default, which has been attributed to the number of smallholder farmers who lack the capital to invest in chemicals.
• Peru's coffee farmers are overwhelmingly small-scale, with the average producer growing coffee on just under three acres. Cooperatives can help small farmers gain access to credit facilities and larger export markets.

Our speciality coffees are 100% traceable and ethically sourced. We work direct with farmers, or through trusted partners, to bring you the best coffee from around the world.

Sourced in partnership with: Falcon Coffees
Producer relationship length: 1 year