Peru - Fredesvinda Estela

about the producer.

Peru has a long history of coffee production and since the early 2000s young producer groups have been leading a transition from conventional practices to specialty coffee. Over 75% of Peru’s coffee is produced by smallholder farms that average 3 acres in size. Historically most of this coffee was sold to local mills at low prices making it impossible for these agricultural communities to make improvements to their farms and livelihoods.

The high altitudes of Peru are ideal for growing exceptional coffee and producers have started tapping into this potential. Led primarily by young producers, associations connect farmers within a region, sharing education and resources to make improvements to their coffee quality and access the specialty market. This is a new opportunity for smallholder farmers and communities that is encouraging the new generation to stay in farming.

Fredesvinda Estela is a Lead Producer for the El Morito Producer Association in the Province of San Ignacio, in the northern Cajamarca region of Peru. It was started by David Flores, a third-generation coffee grower in 2020 and today El Morito connects over 50 producing families committed to high end specialty coffee grown in harmony with the surrounding forests.

At Fredesvinda’s farm El Cacao, she and her husband raise their two children and support their family with the coffee they produce. While she faced uncertainty at the beginning of her journey, over time she has built Finca El Cacao into a benchmark for the potential of Peruvian specialty coffee. The high 1800-1870m elevation and rich soils of the terroir support a bright and balanced cup. Through careful planning of the farm’s plots she has planted a mix of excellent Arabica varieties: Yellow Caturra, Bourbon, Marshall and Catuai. She has also invested in post-harvest processing to optimize her coffee quality, taking Brix measurements of cherries and milling her coffee with a mix of fermentation and drying styles.

On a broader scale El Morito, under the leadership of David Flores, acts as an educational and technical support for the producer members. Through the association the producers are tightly connected to the direct export of their coffees, maximising the return on each year’s crop and enabling continual improvement. The impact of projects like this on local communities cannot be overstated and members like Fredesvinda prove to other producers in the region the benefit of implementing specialty coffee practices.

about the coffee.

This lot is a Yellow Caturra, a naturally occurring mutation of the Bourbon variety that yields a brilliant golden-yellow cherry when ripe. Caturra is prized for its clean, sweet cup and bright acidity, and at the high elevations of Finca El Cacao - between 1800 and 1870 metres - the cherries ripen slowly to develop depth and complexity.

Fredesvinda has implemented taking Brix measurements to ensure only the ripest golden cherries measuring above 18° Brix are harvested. A second hand-sorting removes any overripe fruit before the coffee undergoes Fredesvinda’s meticulous washed process.

The cherries are fermented whole in airtight tanks for 36 hours to build sweetness ahead of pulping. After pulping the coffee undergoes a second fermentation in the remaining mucilage for a further 48 hours, with close attention paid to the climatic conditions throughout. This double fermentation produces a sweet fruit acidity common in honey processing, with the clarity of a washed coffee.

The parchment is then fully washed and drying is taken slowly over 20 to 25 days, split between a solar dryer and shaded areas to avoid any harshness and lock in sweetness. The result is an exceptionally sweet and clean cup.