Damian is a new producer that Falcon, our importer have started working with and boy, do we hope it is not the last time. This is one beautiful coffee. It has gorgeous blackcurrant notes to it, which are more typical of a Kenyan coffee, and then an almost herbal sweetness reminiscent of cola with lovely cherry fruity notes in there. It is truly lovely and not to be missed!
Who is Damian?
Chirinos, the home of Damian
Damian Espinoza Garcia is a producer from Alto Pirias, Chirinos. He grows mostly caturra variety coffee but also has some castillo, catuai and other varieties on his land. Damian is growing some lovely coffee, competing in the 2018 cup of excellence competition, placing 2nd with a washed yellow caturra from his farm. He mostly processes washed coffee but has recently started to produce natural coffee which has given great results in the cup. Looking forward to trying one of those in due course! This coffee lot is a traditional washed processed coffee however.
As with many coffee farms, he picks his coffee with the help of his family and hired workers. Once picked the coffee is washed and then placed on raised beds where it dries for 40 days.
Chirinos
Chirinos is a district in the province of San Ignacio and is one of the most well known areas of Peru for quality coffee. It is well connected to nearby cities with new roads and a thriving town which serves as a hub for coffee buying and trading. Whilst the coffee landscape in Chirinos is still dominated by middlemen and FTO certifications, there is a growing interest in specialty coffee with some of the bigger cooperatives in the area promoting quality for a number of years. For those producers that aren't members of cooperatives, and of which there are many, there is still little access to market and little support to invest in their farms to improve quality. There are a number of villages across Chirinos which have ideal growing conditions for coffee with altitudes above 1700 masl and many producers still growing old pure Arabica varieties. Falcon see huge potential for quality improvement in Chirinos: with small changes and investments, producers can escape low market prices which rarely cover the cost of production and find a market for their coffee that pays well above the market price with quality incentives. We can't wait to see what gorgeous coffee comes out of this area in the years ahead. It is an exciting time in the area's coffee growing history so watch this space for more...
Images and text from Falcon Specialty