Peru has a rich and storied history in coffee agriculture.

Coffee has been grown here since the 1700’s, but exports were almost non-existent until the late 1800’s, with much coffee grown at low altitudes by the coast and consumed locally. British colonialists had a significant influence and economic interest in Peru, so when Peru defaulted on a loan from the British crown, the Peruvian government was forced to hand over 2 million hectares of land in restitution. The British began a familiar colonial process, commodifying the Peruvian highlands; planting coffee here on a massive scale in an attempt to meet Europe’s growing appetite. Other European powers followed, and by the advent of the First World War, Peru was a coffee growing powerhouse.

As colonial powers withdrew from Latin America in the middle of the 20th century, a process of land redistribution followed. In Peru, many large foreign-owned plantations were taken over by the indigenous peoples who once worked the lands, and with great potential and experience, they were able to produce a great deal of coffee.

However, the fragmentation and lack of structure left behind by retreating colonial influence led to very little knowhow in processing coffee for export, and almost no access to market. It was almost impossible to run a business in coffee under these conditions; many plantations fell into disrepair, yielded low, and were abandoned.

Successive governments attempted to incentivise Peru’s smallholder population to form agricultural cooperatives, a culture that still exists today. This organisation led to centralisation of resources in processing, milling, transport and marketing for remote rural populations. Government divestment from investment in coffee programs adversely affected rural populations through the 1990’s, and alongside the conflict with the Shining Path group, this led to even tougher conditions for coffee growers across Peru.

Finally, in the 2010’s, the coffee leaf rust plague that swept Latin America made it to Peru, decimating the coffee crop here. The remote, rural and spread nature of coffee growing here has always led to a lack of access to basic resources, especially farm inputs and agronomic advice. This meant that the farming population had very little help when the rust hit, and the effect was catastrophic.

Through all of this, the Peruvian smallholder population has remained committed, resourceful, and unwavering. There is great potential in these skilled generational producers, working on fertile high altitude lands, mainly using agroforestry methods with minimal chemical inputs. The structures that have been put in place over the past decade or so by locally run cooperatives, agricultural NGOs and the Peruvian government have led to great strides across the country. Peru is now consistently in the top 10 coffee exporting countries internationally, and has overtaken Mexico to become the number one exporter of certified organic and fair-trade coffees.

The culture of cooperative organisation is still strong here, and much of our work in Peru takes place through the cooperative structure, both larger lots and smaller single producer micro-lots. Peru has recovered over the past decade into one of speciality coffee’s most exciting origins; producing excellent coffees of a wide range of profiles on small farms throughout the country. As the market here is not as developed as in other South American countries, strong in country relationships are key; we believe we have found several over the past few years, and are excited to share our first two Peruvian subscription coffees with you this month.

Rutas del Inca

High in the mountains of Cajamarca, the members of the Rutas del Inca cooperative have been quietly rebuilding. After being founded in 2013 by 33 coffee producing families, they grew slowly and organically, but hit a crisis during the pandemic. There were accusations of serious corruption against the previous leadership, leaving the organisation struggling even before the supply chain chaos that ensued during 2020. Exports dwindled, and members began to leave due to late payments. Several longstanding members came together with a plan to save the cooperative, securing funding from a Dutch NGO to assist with organic certification, EUDR compliance and an agroforestry project.

For the 2025 harvest, the membership of the cooperative passed 300 families, many of which have been supported through certification, and with seedlings of new varietals. This has served to increase quality across the project, and transfer more value back to the member families.

The Querocoto Project

This lot is part of the agroforestry project. This part of Cajamarca is home to incredibly high altitudes; many members of Rutas del Inca farm at over 2000 masl, several up to 2400 masl. Many of the highest farms have been arranged into smaller groups, provided with high quality plant stock, and supported in maintaining agroforestry systems with a mix of native secondary crops and shade trees. This lot is composed of the work of several of these agroforestry project producers, located around the town of Querocoto, high in the Andean spine that runs between Cajamarca and Jaen. Each individual producer is also supported in their post-harvest processing, in this case a careful washed process. The agroforestry producers grow Caturra and Catuai, but have been supplied with seedlings of Bourbon and Geisha.

This lot is bright and sweet, with notes of apricot and orange, with a deep raisin sweetness.

Aromas del Valle

Founded in 2015, the Aromas del Valle cooperative consists of nearly 600 producers in the Cajamarca region of Peru, mainly located around Jaén, San Ignacio & Cutervo. They produce several large cooperative lots, but also promote the development of high quality coffees from individual members through social, economic and environmental support. They have an extensive program of modern farming techniques, enabling quality through processing, varietal and management support.

A young organisation

The average age of leadership and membership of the cooperative is in the 30s; allowing space for agility, energy and new perspectives. They have worked hard on a fully integrated model of farmer support, with quality and the environment at the core. Aromas del Valle have provided members with over 150,000 seedlings, not of coffee, but of native shade and fruit trees. They also provide assistance in organic certification, agroforestry, and assistance in procuring and applying organic farm inputs. On the quality side, they also provide seedlings of exotic varietals, and support producers with improvements such as resurfaced fermentation tanks.

Jose Guevara

Jose Guevara is one example of an individual producer within Aromas del Valle, who has been supported to create very high quality through their micro-lots program. Jose works in the municipality of Callayuc, a short drive from the town of Querocoto. Here, he works on a 4 hectare farm he has dubbed La Lúcuma, located at 2000 meters above sea level. He grows Typica, Yellow Caturra and Bourbon; combined with the high altitude and cool climate, this leads to coffees that are dense, sweet, and aromatic. Like many Aromas del Valle producers, Jose is committed to sustainable practices, farming in a complex agroforestry system with native fruit and shade trees.

This is his washed Typica, floral, dense and complex, with notes of aromatic citrus and dense blackberry jam.

Peru has grown quickly into one of the most exciting regions in the world of coffee.

We are excited to add Peru to our lineup, and to continue our work here into the future, forging close partnerships with those who have driven this incredible drive for quality. Look out for more Peruvian releases in our highlight and rare categories this month, including the 2025 Cup of Excellence #1 lot, La Catarata.