Peru Cajamarca Org. San Ignacio – La Prosperidad – Washed Processed

Description

A wonderful higher end Peru offering; fully traceable and 100% organically grown. A very clean cup, good at almost any roast point. Traditional tastes and characteristics for Peru, a smooth and creamy cup on the chocolate/nutty side. The “higher end” status is due to hints of clean acidity and soft fruit tones at lighter roasts along with defined nutty/chocolate tones and minimal to no herbal/earthy/grassy notes. Stays on the sweeter side through the medium and dark roasts, making this a great daily drinker at the fuller roast levels.

This La Prosperidad lot comes from a group of 6 smallholder producers in the community of El Progreso, in the La Coipa district, San Ignacio province, Cajamarca region, in northern Peru. Together they cultivate organic coffee across roughly 45 acres, on small farms where the coffee grows intercropped with shade trees, bananas, corn, and beans, following land management practices tied to their cultural connection with the land. La Prosperidad is a community blend: each producer contributes their micro-lot and together they build a coffee with a real sense of origin.

Cajamarca is one of the most important coffee regions in northern Peru, known for clean, balanced washed coffees. San Ignacio, right on the border with Ecuador, brings the high elevations that in this lot sit between 1950 and 1970 masl, over clay mineral soils that give the cup structure. The varieties planted here are Bourbon, Catuai, and Marshell. The Marshell is worth pausing on: it is a rare variety born in San Ignacio province itself, attributed to coffee farmer Grimanes Morales Lizana and considered a local mutation related to Bourbon, which has earned a reputation for cup quality over the past few years. Having it in this blend is a direct nod to the home terroir of this coffee. The harvest runs from July to October.

The process is fully washed: during the harvest the cherries are carefully picked and sorted, floated to remove damaged and less dense beans, then depulped, fermented, washed, and dried using micro-mills located on each farm. Drying happens on patios and elevated tables inside solar dryers that protect the coffee from the rain. Behind this lot is Origin Coffee Lab (OCL), a direct-trade exporter founded in 2017 in Cajamarca by Jose Pepe Rivera and Alex Julca, working with hundreds of producing families across northern Peru. Through its Solidario model, OCL combines agronomy education, technical support, warehouse logistics, traceability, and post-harvest quality control, returning export premiums to the producers so they can reinvest in their farms and families.

Tasting Notes: Good from light to dark, we liked it best at a nice medium roast but will pick up fans across the roast spectrum. A clean, juicy cup, medium to syrupy in body with good sweetness. Lighter roasts bring out the liveliest notes the origin reports: papaya juice, grapefruit, and a floral touch, with a bright citric acidity. At a medium roast the coffee balances out and the sweetness settles in, the grapefruit rounds off and chocolate starts to show, with fuller body and moderate acidity – a really good daily drinker. Darker roasts gain chocolate and toasty tones, lose a bit of the fruit and floral character, but leave a dense, sweet cup that dark roast fans will enjoy.

Roasting Notes: An easy bean to roast. If you want to highlight the fruit and floral side, stick with the lighter roasts, just a little development past first crack. For most, getting a little closer to 2nd crack than first (medium) builds body and chocolate while lowering the acidity, ideal for everyday drinking. Darker roasts work for dark roast fans, but they burn out some of the sweetness and fruit, so generally it is best not to push too far.