Lucia Muñoz - Peru

Melon, Raspberry, Lychee

Producer: Lucía Muñoz Guevara
Country: Peru
Region: Casería Santa María, Jaén, Cajamarca
Variety: Caturra, Bourbon & Pache                                                                              Process: Washed

Cultivar, who sourced this coffee from Peru, have been buying from Lucia for 2 years.

Doña Lucía has always lived on her farm, which is just northwest of Jaén in the region of Cajamarca. The area of the farm under cultivation with coffee is planted with Caturra, Bourbon, and Pache; high quality varieties known to perform well in Perú. 

Lucía produces fully washed coffee using an extended fermentation in a hermetically-sealed environment. She begins by sealing intact coffee fruits in clean plastic bags and allowing them to ferment in a shaded location for 72 hours. She then depulps the coffee and seals it again, continuing fermentation with the mucilage exposed for another 48 hours. Once the second stage is complete, she washes the coffee in clean tanks and moves the parchment to solar dryers where it dries for approximately 12 days.

In addition to coffee, Lucía also grows crops like lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and lúcuma, a native fruit for which her farm is named. She reserves enough of these products for her family and sells the rest at the market in Jaén. Known to be industrious and entrepreneurial, she also buys cheese from her neighbors' surplus dairy production to sell along with her produce.

Since the 1980s cooperative style production has become very popular in Perú, establishing the country as a clear and logical choice for organic coffees in particular. But while certified coffees have offered producers slightly better insulation against the volatility of the coffee market, they have reinforced a style of production that emphasises volumes over quality or specificity. It's exciting to witness a growing interest in traceable, differentiated coffees aided by quality-oriented companies like Cultivar. 

Grind: If you need your coffee ground, select on the dropdown. Let us know in the "Special Instructions" if there is any other specific brew method you need the coffee ground for.