Peru San Felipe Fairtrade Organic Washed – Green Coffee Beans

Peru San Felipe Fairtrade Organic Washed – Green Coffee Beans

Origin: Peru
Region: Cajamarca
Province: Jaén
Village: San Felipe
Producers: 34 Smallholder Farmers
Co-operative: Aromas del Valle
Crop: 2025/26
Species: Arabica
Varieties: Caturra, Pache & Typica (Nacional)
Altitude: Up to approx. 2,250 MASL
Process: Fully Washed
Fermentation: Approx. 24 Hours
Drying: Raised African Beds Under Solar Tents
Drying Time: Approx. 15–18 Days
Grade: Grade 1 / SHB
Screen: 15+
Certifications: Fairtrade & Organic
Tasting Notes: Apple, Biscuit & Hazelnut
Bag: 69kg GrainPro / Ecotact
Lot: P8003051-1

This coffee comes from San Felipe in the province of Jaén, Cajamarca, northern Peru, and is produced by a group of just 34 smallholder farmers working with the Aromas del Valle cooperative.

Grown at elevations reaching approximately 2,250 metres above sea level, this is an exceptionally high-altitude Arabica with a strong combination of traceability, certified organic production, Fairtrade credentials and careful washed processing.

Coffee from Cajamarca

Cajamarca is one of Peru’s most important specialty coffee regions and is particularly well known for high-altitude production around Jaén and San Ignacio.

The landscape is mountainous and often remote, with coffee farms spread across steep slopes and valleys. Cooler temperatures at higher elevations slow the development of the coffee cherries, allowing sugars and acids to build gradually before harvest.

The producers behind this San Felipe lot farm at elevations averaging around 2,000 metres, with some plots reaching approximately 2,250 MASL.

These conditions help produce dense green beans with good structure, sweetness and clarity.

34 Smallholder Producers

This is not a broad regional blend.

The lot is built from coffee grown by 34 smallholder farmers from the San Felipe community, giving it a much more focused level of traceability than many commercial Peruvian coffees.

Each family manages its own coffee plots, carries out much of the initial processing on the farm and then delivers dried parchment coffee into the cooperative system for final preparation and export.

That means this coffee represents the combined work of a relatively small and clearly defined producer group rather than thousands of anonymous farms.

Aromas del Valle

The producers work with Aromas del Valle, a cooperative based in the Jaén region.

The cooperative supports farming families with coffee quality development, technical assistance and access to wider export markets.

Its work extends beyond simply purchasing coffee. Producers can receive support with seedlings, organic farming inputs, shade trees, fermentation infrastructure, quality control and farm management.

The cooperative structure also gives smaller producers greater access to international buyers and certified markets that would be difficult to reach independently.

Fairtrade & Organic

This coffee is both Fairtrade and Organic certified.

For customers looking for certified green coffee, that gives this lot a particularly clear proposition.

Organic certification reflects farming practices that restrict the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and place greater emphasis on soil health, organic inputs and responsible land management.

Fairtrade certification provides an additional framework around producer organisations, pricing and cooperative-level premiums.

Together, these certifications sit alongside the coffee’s quality rather than replacing it. This is first and foremost a high-altitude specialty Arabica with a strong origin and processing story.

Caturra, Pache & Typica

This lot combines three Arabica varieties:

Caturra, Pache and Typica.

Typica, also known locally as Nacional, is one of the oldest and most important Arabica varieties and is valued for its clean, elegant cup character.

Caturra is widely planted throughout Latin America and is known for good sweetness and acidity when grown at higher elevations.

Pache is a natural mutation of Typica that has become particularly well suited to coffee-growing areas of Peru and Guatemala.

Together, these varieties help create a coffee with good sweetness, gentle fruit character and a balanced structure.

Fully Washed Processing

The coffee is processed using the fully washed method.

Freshly harvested cherries are first placed in water so that lower-density or defective fruit can be separated from the better-quality cherries.

The selected coffee is then depulped, removing the outer fruit while leaving the seeds inside their parchment layer.

The parchment coffee undergoes approximately 24 hours of fermentation, allowing the remaining mucilage to break down naturally.

Once fermentation is complete, the coffee is thoroughly washed with clean water.

This style of processing helps preserve clarity and origin character while keeping the final cup clean and balanced.

Slow Raised-Bed Drying

After washing, the coffee is dried on raised African beds beneath solar tents.

Drying takes approximately 15–18 days.

Raised beds allow air to circulate around the parchment, while the protective solar structures help producers control exposure to rain and excessive humidity.

The coffee is turned regularly throughout the drying process to encourage even moisture loss.

This slow and controlled approach is particularly important at high elevation, where cool and changeable weather can make drying more difficult.

Farm-Level Processing

One of the most interesting aspects of this coffee is that much of the initial processing takes place close to where the coffee is grown.

For small producers in remote parts of northern Peru, selling fresh coffee cherries immediately after harvest can create both logistical and financial pressure.

By processing cherries into dried parchment on the farm, producers gain more control over quality, storage and the timing of their sale.

Once dried, the parchment coffee is delivered into the cooperative system for hulling, grading, sorting and final export preparation.

High-Altitude Green Coffee

At elevations reaching around 2,250 MASL, this is one of the highest-grown coffees in our range.

Cooler temperatures at these elevations slow the coffee cherry’s ripening cycle.

This extended maturation period can contribute to denser green beans, increased sweetness and more pronounced acidity.

For roasters, dense high-altitude coffees often provide excellent potential for lighter and medium roast profiles, where their natural sweetness and structure can remain clearly defined.

In the Cup

This lot offers an approachable and balanced flavour profile with notes of:

Apple • Biscuit • Hazelnut

The apple character provides a fresh, gentle fruit acidity.

Hazelnut adds rounded sweetness and a soft nutty depth, while biscuit brings a warmer cereal-like character and comforting finish.

The result is a coffee that is clean and lively without becoming overly acidic or heavily fermented.

For Roasters

Peru San Felipe is extremely versatile.

A light-to-medium roast can highlight more of the apple character and clean acidity.

A medium roast develops greater hazelnut and biscuit sweetness while maintaining good balance.

For espresso, a medium to slightly deeper profile can produce a smooth, sweet cup with plenty of body and a gentle fruit lift.

It can also work very well in blends where a roaster wants to add certified organic and Fairtrade coffee without compromising cup quality.

A Coffee with Quality and Provenance

Peru San Felipe brings together several qualities that make it particularly compelling:

34 traceable smallholder producers, very high-altitude farming, Fairtrade and Organic certification, traditional Arabica varieties, careful washed processing and slow raised-bed drying.

It is a coffee with a strong social and environmental story, but just as importantly, it offers a clean, sweet and approachable cup that stands comfortably on its own merits.

Peru holds exceptional promise as a producer of high-quality coffees. The country is the largest exporter of organic Arabica coffee globally. With extremely high altitudes and fertile soils, the country’s smallholder farmers also produce some stunning specialty coffees.

Though coffee arrived in Peru in the 1700s, very little coffee was exported until the late 1800s. Until that point, most coffee produced in Peru was consumed locally. When coffee leaf rust hit Indonesia in the late 1800s, a country central to European coffee imports at the time, Europeans began searching elsewhere for their fix. Peru was a perfect option.

Between the late 1800s and the first World War, European interests invested significant resources into coffee production in Peru. However, with the advent of the two World Wars, England and other European powers became weakened and took a less colonialist perspective. When the British and other European land owners left, their land was purchased by the government and redistributed to locals. The Peruvian government repurchased the 2 million hectares previously granted to England and distributed the lands to thousands of local farmers. Many of these farmers later grew coffee on the lands they received.

Today, Peruvian coffee growers are overwhelmingly small scale. Farmers in Peru usually process their coffee on their own farms. Most coffee is Fully washed. Cherry is usually pulped, fermented and dried in the sun on raised beds or drying sheds. Drying greenhouses and parabolic beds are becoming more common as farmers pivot towards specialty markets.

After drying, coffee will then be sold in parchment to the cooperative. Producers who are not members of a cooperative will usually sell to a middleman.

The remoteness of farms combined with their small size means that producers need either middlemen or cooperatives to help get their coffee to market. Cooperative membership protects farmers greatly from exploitation and can make a huge difference to income from coffee. Nonetheless, currently only around 15-25% of smallholder farmers have joined a coop group.

Small Batch Roasting: Roast For You Service – Terms & Conditions

Introduction

Small Batch Roasting now offers a service that offers personalised coffee roasting for customers who want to enjoy freshly roasted coffee tailored to their preferences.

Roast For You Service

When you choose to have your coffee roasted for you, we will roast the exact amount ordered and roast this for you to the selected roast profile you have chosen. Our small batch roasting process ensures that your coffee is roasted with care and precision, resulting in a high-quality, freshly roasted product.

Minimum Green Weight Requirement

Please be advised that the minimum green weight for roasting any one single origin is 6kg. Any orders placed with less than 6kg of each origin will be placed on hold and may cause delays in being dispatched. We will contact you to discuss how you wish to proceed in this case.

Weight Loss During Roasting

Please be mindful of the weight loss through moisture loss during roasting, which is typically between 12-20% depending on the level of roast. The darker the roast, the higher the moisture loss. This weight loss should be taken into account when ordering your coffee to ensure you receive the desired amount of roasted coffee.

Order Processing Time

Orders for roasted coffees will naturally take a little longer to process. Please allow a minimum of 3 days for your order to arrive from the point of order. If we are able to drop your order in the roasting schedule sooner, we will always endeavor to do so.

Mixed Orders

Mixed orders which include green and roasted coffees will be dispatched together when the roasted coffees are ready. We are unable to split these orders, so please consider the slightly longer delivery times when ordering mixed coffees.

Packaging

Your coffee will be bulk packed into a 6kg bulk bag with an identifying label on only. This packaging ensures that your coffee remains fresh and protected during transit.

Roast Profile and Liability

We will roast to your desired roast profile, but are unable to take any liability for any taste discrepancies that may arise from this. We are unable to take back any coffees once they have been roasted to your desired roast profile.

Yield Estimate

Typically, a medium roast coffee at 6kg green will yield 5.1kg of freshly roasted coffee. This estimate should be taken into account when ordering your coffee to ensure you receive the desired amount of roasted coffee.