Feature Filter: Efrain (Natural) | Perú

About Efrain & his coffee:

This coffee was cultivated and processed by Efrain Carhuallocllo Salvador - an innovative and quality driven producer from El Corazon village in the Chirinos District. Efrain’s coffee farm spreads over around 4 hectares and his pristine wet mill and drying facilities are managed with exquisite care and attention. He grows Caturras (Yellow and red) and Gesha varieties which he processes with using a mixture of washed and natural methods.

This particular lot is a natural. After picking the cherries are washed with clean water and sorted to remove underripe and floaters. Then they are pre-fermented for 48hrs in containers before being moved onto African beds to dry over around 25 days.

Efrain is one of the most innovative producers in the area and has won many local as well as national awards including placing. second at the Cup of Excellence competition. Maintaining his processing facilities in great condition Efrain also takes great care over the drying process, uses probes in the drying area to measure temperature and humidity and making sure the coffee is dried slowly and evenly for better longevity.

This is our second year of purchasing Efrain’s coffee after it truly stood out on the cupping table last year. And we’re super happy to have been able to buy two lots produced Efrain this year. This natural is real stunner with sticky sweet cup full of tropical fruit reminding us of grilled pineapple and hints of blueberries too. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

About Falcon Peru:

Background on Peru and Por El Cambio project:

POR EL CAMBIO means FOR CHANGE. The project has been established in Cajamarca, Northern Peru by our importing partner Falcon Coffees in 2019.

As Falcon explain:

In Peru, like some other origins, coffee farmers are sensitive to market changes and often lack basic training and the incentive to produce higher qualities of coffee, as premiums often don’t materialise. For these reasons we decided we needed to change the way we buy coffee in Peru and work directly with producers, allowing us to control and improve upon existing quality and have full financial traceability. Ensuring these two factors would help us to pay higher prices for the coffees and to make sure that producers received a fair price for the coffee they delivered us, above the market price. In order to do this, we set up a warehouse in Jaen and started to buy in parchment directly from producers.

The vision was to work directly with small producers who aren't associated with or able to sell their coffee through local cooperatives. They represent 75% of producers in Northern Peru and are usually based in remote areas with little or no access to training and price premiums adequate to the quality of coffee they are able to produce. This can leave their income often dependant on local aggregators who buy their coffee at farm for cash before selling it on which results in the producers being paid very little and the potential and quality of their coffee being lost.

Falcon's team on the ground in Peru, have established relationships and now work with around 300 small producers who bring their coffee in parchment directly to their warehouse where individual lots are graded, yield calculated and assessed for quality. Producers are then paid on the same day according to a transparent system (based on cup score and yield) and receive premiums well above the local market price. Aside from gaining access to a fair market, producers are also able to receive training on farm management, good harvest and processing practices.