One of the undeniable perks of working for a green bean trader is the rare and exciting opportunity to visit coffee origins and build personal relationships with the producers. Last month, Jason Joffe from our Opal Australian team, spent a week in Peru. The trip was filled with coffee tastings, beautiful views and inspiring conversations. Let us now take you for a virtual journey to this exciting country, having Jason as a guide through his adventures.
The trip was sponsored by PromPeru, a promotional department of the Peru Government whose mission is to promote the country through tourism and industry. The trip was centered around the national coffee festival of FICAFE, which also hosted the Peru Cup of Excellence, and attracted hundreds of thousands of guests over the 3-day event.
After a long trip from Brisbane via 5 cities and about 36 hours of travel and a short hotel sleep, Jason arrived in the airport of Juliaca, the capital city of the South East region of Peno, Peru. All the visitors were welcomed with traditional dancers. They jumped straight on the bus after a few photos and were off to their first stop, Cecovasa.
Cecovasa is a dry mill, roastery, and q grader training lab. The travelers were given truly royal tour of the parchment storage area, dry mill, roasting area, and a quick sales pitch before heading into the cupping room. This was to be their first group cupping and many of the cuppers first taste of Peruvian coffee.
“There was a good spread of qualities and we threw in a quick calibration check which was great to get to know each other, as this was the first time all of us had met. There were attendees from across the globe in many roles within the coffee industry. We had a quick stop for lunch and it was on to the bus for an hour drive to Puno, the city on the shores of Lake Titicaca at a staggering 3850 meters above sea level. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was dark, and we were all exhausted.” — Jason
This morning was Jason’s first taste of the city of Puno; the views were magnificent and it was easy to see why it was chosen as the host of FICAFE. The day was set to be a huge one; the bus was picking them up from the hotel at 8am and they had 13 hours of the day planned for them. They were first delivered to the site of Ficafe, which was not due to start until the following day. After masses of ceremony welcoming them, we started to hear from a few exporters and producers before our 6-hour cupping session started. The coffees were a complete surprise.
“I had been to Peru over 8 years ago and you could certainly taste the progression. Multiple tables of different varietals and processing methods and styles by different producers, my eyes were open. We took a break for lunch in town and an opportunity to see a bit of the city, what great timing as they were preparing for the celebration of the birth of the Inca Empire. After a long day of cupping, we had a bit of a social evening until the caffeine wore off and called it a night.” — Jason
It was a long day of meetings. Jason met with 23 exporters from various backgrounds and regions. It was certainly a great way to meet so many companies and, in some cases, Opal look forward to many years of business to follow.
“Everyone wanted a photo, many people were laughing as I was one of the taller members there, and let’s just say Peruvians are most definitely a shorter people. Sometime around 5pm, after an 8am start, we got a chance to wonder around the expo, taste some coffee and chat. I purchased more than a few bags of coffee for home and watched a little of the Cup of Excellence announcements.” — Jason
Congratulations to Eldon Cruz who won first place.
This was a travel day returning from Puno to Juliaco, back to Lima and then on to Ayacucho and VRAEM for the farm visit leg of the trip. As it was a weekend, they had a few hours in between everything to see some sights. Started with a 5am trip to Lake Titicaca famous floating islands. Then an afternoon in Lima visiting some specialty coffee shops and of course, enjoying the world-famous food of the city.
An early morning walking the almost empty streets of Ayacucho was a nice leg stretcher before the 5-hour crushing trip to Pichari, gateway to the VRAEM region. And a crushing trip it certainly was; 5 of them plus a driver along roads that were full of holes and winded up and down one valley after the next. The road changed from sealed with potholes that could swallow a bus, to muddy narrow jungle roads. At the same rate the scenery changed from high desert mountains to lush tropical rainforests.
Today was the day they were finally seeing some of the most remote coffee farms in Peru. VRAEM is an acronym for the region, where 3 Amazonian Rivers meet and flow down through Brazil. It was, not that long ago, the highest trafficked area in the world for Coca leaves and many Peruvians are still unsettled about travelling here.
“We certainly went through more than a few military controlled Coca checkpoints. But what a day. We started by crossing a river by barge only 200m from our accommodation, we then spent an hour or so at the cooperative’s headquarters hearing about the work they were doing to change the livelihoods of their members. The coop had been around for 54 years but taken a large break due to the illegal coca trade and communist controlled by the Shining Path – a group founded in the city of Ayacucho. We then visited two farms and were treated like absolute celebrities. Jonathan, a pale red head from Michigan, was drawing quite a crowd of the farmers daughters. We were treated to multiple lunches and cups of fermented corn beer and had a great day amongst some of the most picturesque farms I have ever visited.” — Jason
Last part of the trip – farewell to Peru and slow journey back to Australia.
“The long trip home from Origin is always bitter sweet. The travel is killer but we look forward to doing it all again next time. Armed with a little more knowledge, and a few more friends, it’s the people and places that keep me involved in coffee after more than 20 years.” – Jason
Whether you’re new to the wonderful world of coffee or are a seasoned coffee enthusiast looking for a refresh, we thought it would be helpful to answer one of the most common questions: What is specialty coffee?
It is green coffee buying season right now which means we are busy assessing, evaluating and cupping a range of new coffees from a variety of origins. We thought this would be a great
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