The story
Coffee reached Peru in the 1700s, but for a long time almost all of it was drunk at home. According to the green-coffee trader Sucafina, exports only grew in the late 1800s, after leaf rust hit Indonesia and European buyers went looking for new sources. Around the same time Peru defaulted on a British loan and handed over more than 2 million hectares of land, and the importer Cafe Imports says much of it became British-owned coffee plantations.
Those estates did not last. Sucafina says European owners sold up between 1914 and 1945, and the government later bought the land back and shared it out among local families. By the middle of the 20th century, most Peruvian coffee came from smallholders, and it still does. World Coffee Research counts more than 202,000 farms, mostly small, averaging just over a hectare, and says coffee is grown on the eastern slopes of the Andes in 17 of the country's 24 regions.
The 1980s and 1990s were hard. The collapse of the coffee quota system in 1989, cuts to public spending and the conflict with the Shining Path guerrillas all hit rural farmers, Sucafina says. Demand for ethically sourced coffee helped the sector recover, and certification became a big part of Peru's identity. World Coffee Research describes Peru as the leading producer of certified Fair Trade and organic Arabica. Nordic Approach, a Norwegian importer, says most of Peru's coffee is organic, and Coffee Review notes that many farms are organic by default because farmers cannot afford agrochemicals. That has a cost: Sucafina says the leaf rust outbreak that began in 2012 hit Peru especially hard, because organic farms have fewer ways to fight the disease.
Cooperatives matter, though most farmers still sell on their own. Cafe Imports puts co-op membership at around 30 percent of smallholders; Sucafina gives 15 to 25 percent. The figures differ, but both describe a minority.
Where it grows. The sources name the same core regions. Cafe Imports and Nordic Approach call Cajamarca, in the north, the largest producing region, and Nordic Approach says some farms there sit above 2,000 metres. Sucafina says the northern regions of Amazonas and San Martín now produce around 47 percent of the crop, with new mills and warehouses opening there and in Cajamarca. Chanchamayo, in Junín in the central highlands, once grew about 70 percent of Peru's coffee, Sucafina says, but has not recovered from leaf rust. In the south, Nordic Approach lists Cusco and Puno; it says Puno's output fell from 180,000 bags to 8,000 after leaf rust and low prices, as many farmers switched to coca.
How it's processed
A coffee bean is the seed of a small fruit called a cherry. Once picked, the fruit has to come off and the seed has to dry, and this step shapes the flavour.
In Peru most of this happens on the farm itself. Sucafina says farmers usually use the washed method: they remove the skin and fruit with a pulper, leave the beans to ferment, then dry them in the sun. Nordic Approach adds that fermentation is mostly done dry, in small wooden or concrete tanks. Small farmers have often dried coffee on tarps on the ground or under the roofs of their houses, but cooperatives are building shared drying areas with raised beds, and greenhouse-style dryers are spreading as farmers aim at the specialty market. The dried coffee, still in its thin papery shell called parchment, is then sold to a cooperative or a middleman.
Washed coffee is still the norm, and Cafe Imports lists it as the only method. Nordic Approach, though, says some farms now make natural coffees, dried with the whole fruit on, and some anaerobic lots. Coffee Review saw the same shift across the Andes: in one tasting of 48 coffees from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, 16 were naturals. Nordic Approach calls processing the biggest quality challenge, because most farm mills have very limited equipment.
The sources disagree on timing. Cafe Imports gives the harvest as June to September, Sucafina as March to September, and Nordic Approach as May to October.
What it tastes like
Peru coffee has long been known as a mild, dependable coffee. Cafe Imports says its mild cup and fairly low price made it a popular blend component. Royal Coffee, another importer, points to its "hefty sweetness" and affordability as reasons roasters rely on it. Coffee Review's earlier tastings found mostly soft, balanced coffees from classic varieties such as Typica and Caturra.
The range is wider at the specialty end. Nordic Approach describes Peruvian lots as either jammy and fruity or lighter and tea-like, with yellow fruit and floral notes. Royal Coffee's current Peru lots list notes such as milk chocolate, caramel, pear and lemon. Coffee Review also rated a washed Cajamarca coffee 93 points.
Variety plays a part. Nordic Approach says Catimor types are common at lower altitudes, while higher farms grow Bourbon, Caturra, Typica and Pache, a dwarf form of Typica; Typica dominates in the south, and some farmers have started on Geisha. Because a single country covers so many regions and methods, the tasting notes on each coffee are a better guide than any national rule.