About the Coffee
In 2007, we began our work with five small cooperatives of farmers in a valley with no name, calling the project Valle del Santuario. It has been our most successful small-scale farmer relationship to date – we've sourced incredible, organic coffee directly from small farmers, delivering premiums for quality, and have built rewarding personal relationships at the same time. Over the past couple of years, we've sought to expand our work beyond the little valley, to the surrounding mountains where other small farmers grow coffee with the same dedication and passion. This year, we're introducing a new label – La Frontera – to bring these great new coffees of northern Peru to you. La Frontera means "the Border," since these coffees are all from the mountainous northernmost border area of Peru. We also love the name because it symbolizes pushing the frontier of great coffee outside the Valle del Santuario, including more great farmers and more great coffees.
Tasting Notes
We've fallen head over heels for coffees from this region, which are full of deep, chocolate sweetness and aromatic intensity. We know you'll love them as much as we do.
History
Counter Culture has purchased coffee from the Cajamarca region of northern Peru since 2001, at which time the region had a reputation for producing large volumes of low-quality coffee. In 2006, we tasted coffee from the Cenfrocafe cooperative for the first time and we, along with all of our customers, were immediately hooked by its sweetness, hints of tropical fruit, and juicy acidity. We took a major step with Cenfrocafe in 2007 by focusing our attention on a small network of five communities and tasting coffee from each of the 75 families of these communities individually. In a chaotic meeting of all the members, we voted to name their coffee Valle del Santuario after the national park that abuts these communities' farms. For the past five years, while we have sourced coffee from these five communities, we have also outgrown their capacity and purchased coffees for blending and espresso from Cenfrocafe's other producer communities. We have witnessed the quality of these other coffees improve dramatically and this year, we present coffee from other valleys and producers as well as the five communities of the Valle del Santuario.
People
It is not uncommon for the Coffee Department to use Cenfrocafe as an example of a model relationship and share strategies on how to find partners and create other successes similar to this one. We rely on honest, frequent communication with co-op management like Elmer Peña Silva and Teodomiro Melendres Ojeda, cupping support from Alexander Julca and Rony Perez, as well as on-the-ground support from agronomist Sergio Fuentes. Over the years, we have identified ten or more producers of micro-lot-quality coffee and we have no doubt that we will continue to find and celebrate coffees from individuals all over the co-op's territory.
Place
Jaen is a young and fast-growing city which bustles with commercial activity in coffee from the highlands and rice from the lowlands. Many of the farms in the mountains of the region have only been settled and planted for a generation, as opposed to the southern regions of Peru where the agricultural history dates back millennia. Cenfrocafe's members hail from some 30-odd communities around Jaen and smaller towns like San Ignacio, Chirinos, and Tabaconas. In contrast, again, to the southern and central highlands of Peru, most of this region's people are of mestizo descent and speak Spanish as their first and only language.
Farm Name
La Frontera translates as "the border" or "the frontier" and refers to the proximity of the Ecuadoran border (which you can see from many of Cenfrocafe's communities). Likewise, as mentioned above, La Frontera aims to expand the frontier of great coffee in northern Peru.
Production Notes
Variety: Caturra, Bourbon, Pache, Catimor
Elevation: 1,200 – 1,800 meters
Harvest Time: May – October 2011
Process: Washed
Drying: Patio, raised screens
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