A deep dive into one of specialty coffee's most intriguing newcomers – from a chance discovery on a Cajamarca hillside to the cup you can brew at home right now.
Here's a story that coffee doesn't tell very often. A farmer notices something odd growing on her land. She ignores it for over a decade. Then a devastating disease wipes out everything else on the farm – except that one strange tree. Years later, it wins the biggest prize in Peruvian specialty coffee.
That's the short version. The long version is much more interesting.
A tree that didn't belong
In 1997, Grimanés Morales Lizana spotted an unusual coffee plant on her farm La Lucuma, in the San Ignacio province of Cajamarca, northern Peru. It didn't look like anything else she was growing. Different leaf shape, different structure. She didn't think much of it.
For 14 years, that tree just quietly grew alongside her bourbon, caturra and catimor. Then in 2011, disaster struck. A fungal disease called "ojo de pollo" – caused by Mycena citricolor – tore through her plantation. It's a nasty one: it creates round, sunken lesions on leaves and coffee cherries, eventually causing them to drop. In wet, high-altitude conditions like Cajamarca's, it can devastate an entire farm.
And it did. Everything on Grimanés's farm was wiped out. Everything except that one odd tree.
This is where the story shifts. Grimanés began propagating exclusively from the surviving plant. She named the resulting varietal "Marshell" – a word constructed from the letters of her family members' names and surnames, honouring her father-in-law, Marcelino. It's worth noting the spelling varies across the industry: you'll see Marshel, Marshall, and Marshell. We're using Marshell, which is how the varietal is most commonly identified in Peru.
Cup of Excellence: the moment everything changed
Fast forward to October 2019. The Alliance for Coffee Excellence held its third Cup of Excellence competition in Jaén, Peru. An international panel of cuppers from Japan, South Korea, the US, Australia, Hong Kong, Russia, the UAE and Peru evaluated 209 submissions from 11 growing regions, eventually narrowing them down to 21 winning lots.
At the top of the pile? Grimanés Morales Lizana, with a washed Marshell from La Lucuma. Score: 92.28. She beat out a Geisha in second place (91.44) and a Catuai in third (91.40). It also made her the first woman to win Cup of Excellence Peru – a detail that deserves more than a footnote.
The specialty coffee world sat up. A completely unknown varietal, from a tiny farm, had outscored some of the most celebrated cultivars on the planet. That doesn't happen every day.
So what actually is Marshell?
Here's where things get properly geeky. And honestly, a little murky.
The prevailing view – and the one most widely repeated – is that Marshell is a natural mutation of bourbon. It looks different from bourbon, but it shares enough visual characteristics that the mutation theory is plausible. The 2019 Cup of Excellence officially described it as an "unidentified mutation of the Bourbon varietal".
But there are other theories. Some importers and producers have suggested Marshell might actually be related to Costa Rica 95 – a Catimor-group cultivar (meaning it has Timor Hybrid genetics, which in turn means a trace of robusta in its lineage). One Peruvian specialty importer has described it as "also known as Costa Rica 95". Another source has called it "a rare form of Catimor". These are quite different claims from "natural bourbon mutation".
And then there's a third possibility: that Marshell is a bourbon-Ethiopian hybrid. Research is, to put it diplomatically, incomplete.
The truth is, nobody has published definitive genetic testing results for Marshell yet. That's not unusual for a relatively new varietal discovered on a small farm in a remote region – Peru doesn't currently have a national institution dedicated specifically to coffee varietal research in the way that, say, Colombia's Cenicafé or Costa Rica's ICAFE do. What we do know is that the Peruvian government has recognised Marshell as an approved varietal, and that its physical characteristics – notably the tree's distinctive appearance and resilience to disease – set it apart from other cultivars grown in the region.
For coffee geeks, this ambiguity is actually part of the appeal. Marshell is a varietal whose story is still being written.
What does Marshell taste like?
This is where things get exciting for anyone who actually wants to drink the stuff rather than debate its family tree.
Marshell coffees from Cajamarca tend towards a profile that's rich, sweet and elegantly balanced. Think caramel sweetness, complex spice notes, stone fruit and citrus that can range from subtle to electric depending on the producer and processing method. The acidity is typically clean and well-structured rather than aggressive. Multiple roasters have noted how the cup evolves as it cools – starting warm and inviting, then revealing layers of complexity.
In competition settings, Marshell has consistently scored above 87, with the best lots comfortably clearing 90. It's shown up in the top positions of multiple Peru Cup of Excellence competitions since its 2019 debut, reinforcing the idea that the initial win wasn't a one-off.
The combination of excellent cup quality, high yield, and disease resistance makes Marshell something of a unicorn in specialty coffee. Varietals that taste incredible but produce tiny harvests, or ones that yield well but cup average – those are common. Finding all three qualities in a single plant? That's rare.
Why Cajamarca matters
Marshell's story is inseparable from its place of origin. Cajamarca is Peru's most prolific specialty coffee region, responsible for roughly 9% of the country's total production and a disproportionate share of its Cup of Excellence winners. San Ignacio, the province where Marshell was discovered, is part of a belt of dramatic, steep terrain along Peru's northern border with Ecuador – the kind of landscape where growing coffee is genuinely hard.
Altitude here sits between 1,600 and 2,000 metres. Infrastructure is minimal. Many farms lack electricity. Roads are rough at best. Processing coffee in these conditions is a logistical feat that doesn't get enough credit. But the microclimate is extraordinary: cool nights, warm days, significant rainfall, and volcanic soils rich in organic matter. It's these conditions that give Cajamarca coffees their characteristic sweetness, clarity and complexity.
Producers in the region have been quick to adopt Marshell. Seeds from Grimanés's original plants have been multiplied and distributed across Cajamarca, and the varietal is now coming into commercial-scale production at farms throughout San Ignacio, Jaén and La Coipa. For farmers who've struggled with disease pressure – coffee leaf rust, ojo de pollo, Cercospora – a varietal that shrugs off infection while still cupping brilliantly is a genuine game-changer.
Nima Juarez: Marshell at El Roble
Which brings us to the coffee currently on our shelf.
Nima Juarez farms three hectares at El Roble, in La Coipa – a small district sitting at the crossroads of the Jaén and San Ignacio provinces. At 1,720 metres above sea level, it's prime Marshell territory. Nima lives at the centre of the farm with her husband, their two children, and their dog Botas (named, charmingly, for his habit of eating shoes).
The farm is currently planted with catuai, bourbon, catimor and – increasingly – Marshell. Nima's been deliberately shifting her planting away from catimor, which is easier to grow but doesn't cup as well. It's a decision that says a lot about her priorities. She's clear-eyed about the economics: lower quality, commodity-grade coffee won't provide for her family. Great quality coffee can.
That philosophy shows in the details. The family recently invested in brand new raised drying beds – a significant commitment for a farm of their scale, but one that gives much better airflow and more even drying than traditional methods. Cherries are hand-picked at peak ripeness, depulped, fermented, washed and then carefully dried. It's meticulous work.
Nima is part of the Gallitos de las Rocas producer group in La Coipa. The group takes its name from the Andean cock-of-the-rock – Peru's national bird, known locally as tunki. The male is outrageously coloured, with a brilliant scarlet crest and vivid orange plumage. It's one of the most striking birds in the Andean cloud forests, and a fitting symbol for a group of producers making something exceptional in difficult conditions.
The group works with Origin Coffee Lab through their Solidario program, which provides small-scale producers with training, financing and direct feedback on coffee quality. For farmers like Nima, without the scale or infrastructure that larger operations take for granted, this kind of support is transformative. It's the difference between growing coffee and growing great coffee.
Resourcefulness at altitude
What strikes you about El Roble is how self-sufficient the family has become. Without mains electricity or reliable infrastructure, they've found creative solutions: a natural spring on the farm provides drinking water, and they grow banana, cassava and other edible plants alongside their coffee. By the drying beds, there's a small beehive housing native stingless bees – a species that produces delicious honey while simultaneously pollinating the coffee plants. It's the kind of quiet, elegant farming that doesn't make headlines but makes a real difference to both quality and sustainability.
In the cup: our Nima Juarez Marshell
This is a silky, elegant coffee. There's a sweet cola quality up front – think caramel and warm spice – that gives way to a delicate pomegranate on the aftertaste. It's balanced and refined, the kind of cup that rewards patience as it cools and unfolds. If you're brewing at home, we'd suggest a French press: 32g of coffee to 500ml of water at 96°C, steeped for 4–5 minutes. Give it time to cool a little before your first sip – that's when the pomegranate really sings.
Taste Marshell for yourself. Nima Juarez's washed Marshell from El Roble, Peru – cola, caramel and pomegranate.
The bigger picture
Marshell matters beyond its flavour profile. In a world where climate change is shrinking the viable growing area for arabica coffee, and where diseases like leaf rust are becoming more aggressive, finding varietals that taste incredible and can take a beating is critical. Most disease-resistant cultivars in the Catimor family have historically traded cup quality for resilience. Marshell – whatever its exact genetic story turns out to be – seems to have cracked that compromise.
It's also a reminder that some of the most exciting developments in specialty coffee aren't happening in well-funded research labs. They're happening on three-hectare farms at 1,700 metres, discovered by farmers who are paying attention to what's growing around them. Grimanés Morales Lizana didn't set out to create a new varietal. She just noticed something different, watched it survive when nothing else would, and had the instinct to nurture it.
Twenty-eight years after she first spotted that odd-looking tree, Marshell is one of the most talked-about varietals in Peruvian coffee. Seeds are spreading across Cajamarca. Roasters around the world are getting their first lots. And the research that will eventually pin down its genetics is, slowly, catching up to what producers already know from experience: this is something special.
We're proud to have Nima Juarez's Marshell on our shelves. It's a coffee with a story that's still unfolding – and it tastes extraordinary.