Fresh red apple is balanced by a heap of soft demerara sugar on the finish and aftertaste of this cup. As it cools, the apple softens with a delicate satsuma coming through alongside it.
If you think your commute is a slog, spare a thought for our Green Buyer, Roland. Eyner’s farm, El Cedro, is one of the most remote places we’ve ever bought coffee from, and Roland has now made the trip a few times. It takes about eight hours by car from the nearest working airport to the town of Jaén, then roughly an hour and a half to the local receiving village, then another half hour to Eyner’s house. After that comes a steep 45-minute climb up the hillside to find Eyner working on his farm. Any Kiwi who has done a proper tramp will know the feeling of a track that keeps on going. It’s worth it.
Eyner farms in the Colasay area at around 2,000 metres above sea level, where a cool microclimate gives his Bourbon a fresh, clean character. He inherited El Cedro from his parents, and nearly all his neighbours are cousins or extended family, so his connection to the land runs deep. We first came across his coffee at a cupping a few years back, and we’ve bought from him every year since our first visit in 2022. What stands out on every trip is his curiosity. Eyner is always asking questions about best practice, about what’s working on bigger farms and about how he can improve. Until recently, though, he lacked access to a good buyer and to agronomic advice, which meant there was more potential in the farm than anyone had yet seen in the cup. That’s where Origin Coffee Lab comes in. Their receiving station in his village is the reason we found his coffee at all, and it has given him the support to keep improving.
That curiosity led to a very direct request. When Roland visited in August 2023, Eyner asked for our help. His old depulper and fermentation tank were putting quality at risk (the tank was cracked and hard to clean, and the depulper was out of alignment), and with the equipment in that state a good share of each harvest couldn’t reach the specialty grade the farm is capable of. It sold instead as commercial coffee at a much lower price. Replacing the equipment wasn’t easy for him to finance, and it’s exactly the kind of situation our sustainability project exists for. Working with Origin Coffee Lab, who coordinated local suppliers and labour, we funded a new depulper and fermentation tank. It improves both the quality and the consistency of his coffee, and gives him a more reliable foundation to build on.
Which brings us to this year’s coffees. At harvest, Eyner uses a donkey to carry most of his picked cherry down the hill to the wet mill at his house. (Roland’s pick-up, or what we’d call a ute here, takes over from there.) We bought two lots from El Cedro, and both are Bourbon and both are Washed, processed at the same wet mill. The only real difference is when in the harvest each was processed. Eyner is methodical and follows the same steps with every picking, but small differences creep in anyway. Different parts of the farm get more sun, better drainage or less wind, and that changes how the cherries ripen. A slightly faster ferment or a longer drying stage then shapes the cup further. Tiny differences, very different coffees.
Cansaboca came from a smaller plot about 50 metres lower than the main El Cedro land. Eyner and Roland had walked right past it on the way up that morning. When they cupped the lot at Origin Coffee Lab’s satellite office in Colasay with Mercy Fernandez, who samples every delivery (hulled, checked, roasted and cupped, then weighed while the producer waits for the result and the price), Roland knew he wanted it. Then came the question of what to call it. It took Mercy and Eyner a moment to remember the name they’d given the plot: Cansaboca. It translates as “tired mouth”, which left Roland a little confused until Mercy explained that it’s a local fruit with such a dense, sticky texture that eating it is hard work. Picture a very chewy toffee and you’re close. We’ve also bought the contrasting El Cedro lot, and we’d recommend trying both side by side if you can. It’s a great way to taste how much small differences at origin can matter.
Cansaboca also tells us something about Peru more broadly. Coffee reached the country in the mid-18th century, beginning on large landholdings, but over time small-scale farmers took over, and land reforms and government programmes in the 1950s and 60s encouraged that further. Today smallholders produce most of the country’s coffee, with farms averaging just under three hectares. About 425,000 hectares are planted, and half of Peru’s coffee comes from Cajamarca, where Eyner’s farm sits. Smallholders often face limited access to credit and milling, and much Peruvian coffee gets blended together through cooperatives of up to 2,000 farmers. Better traceability in recent years is changing that, and it’s why we can now buy single-producer lots like this one. Peru has an official 28 microclimates, so there’s plenty of terroir to discover. Sitting across the Pacific from us, it’s a long way from Aotearoa, but this cup shows it’s worth the trip.
- Country: Peru
- Region: Cajamarca
- District: Colasay
- Producer: Einer Saldivar
- Farm: El Cedro
- Plot: Cansaboca
- Altitude: 2,000 m.a.s.l.
- Variety: Bourbon
- Processing method: Washed