Peru Chanchamayo Coffee

Coffee from the Chanchamayo Valley, about 200 miles east of Lima in the high Andes has the best reputation of Peruvian Coffees and this is no exception!

Chanchamayo produces approximately 40% of Peru’s total coffee production. This coffee is grown using a typical small-holder model with each small-holder producing less than a tonne of coffee per harvest. Although Chanchamayo is a valley, it is still 1350 metres plus above sea-level. The Arabica beans grown in Chanchamayo cover (in general) Caturra, Typica, Pache, and Bourbon varietals. At these higher altitudes the beans tend to be shade-grown, which adds density to the bean and gives a more complex and pleasing flavour in the cup because it has grown more slowly, due to the shade. This coffee is classed as SHG (strictly high-grown) which means that the coffee is all grown at 1350 metres or above.

Although we do not sell Peru Chanchamayo as organic, the majority of its producers are organic by default, eschewing fertiliser and pesticides in place of more old-fashioned practices that have a lower environmental impact.

Typically harvest time in Peru is June through to mid-September, with the coffee being taken to mills that in the main use the ‘washed’ process to prepare the coffee for sale and export.

Our Chanchamayo Coffee is processed just outside the City of Merced in the Junin region of Chanchamayo. One of the maxims of the factory is to produce environmentally friendly products, paying a fair price that covers the cost of production and permits a profit margin for growers. Their coffees are exported to France, Sweden, Finland Denmark, Italy and the UK.

In the cup, this coffee has a very soft almost floral aroma with a medium body. The flavour has chocolate and nut notes and a gentle citrus acidity.