LA LUCUMA

Don Marcelino Chinguel has been growing coffee for most of his life, well over forty years. Despite that he is always willing to explore and change his way of thinking and this lot represent that spirit.
This is the first lot produced by the Marshell variety that Marcelino planted on his farm.

On the farm, La Lucuma, he lives with his family and they are taking care of most of the work that needs to be carried out, hiring eight pickers only during the harvest.
Within the family they had been spreading the workload in specific areas of responsibilities.

Marcelino is taking care of the administration and sales duties, his wife manage the post harvesting protocols, Franklin the oldest son is in charge to overview the picking and the youngest son Yocner is the QC manager.

This lot is processed as natural and after picking is hand sorted, floated and left to rest for 16 hours before laid out to dry on raised beds in the solar drier for around 20 to 30 days.

Alongside Honduras, Peru has historically been regarded as the discount Latin American origin of unremarkable and often unreliable quality. This reputation and its accompanying price discount are the results of supply chains focused on large volumes based on aggregated quality, built to serve roasters seeking value over remarkable coffee.

This happens at the expense of Peruvian farmers who don’t reap the rewards of higher income through improved quality.

The altitude of the Andes combined with rich volcanic soils and tropical rainfall means that Peru has the ideal topography and climate for producing high quality Arabica coffee.
The only problem has been identified during post-harvest processing, where in the past, farmers have unfortunately received little to no training on the chemistry and precision required to maximize the quality of their coffees, but today things are changing! ...and BIRCHBACH believes and set out to prove that Peru has the potential to match up on quality to any of its origin counterparts in Latin America.