A rich and full-bodied coffee from Peru’s remote Chota region, courtesy of the Red Bank team. Its sticky sweet finish is reminding us of an autumnal date and ginger cake.

Coffee growers in Chota struggle to access the specialty market but local exporter Finca Churupampa are trying to change that. Churupampa started as a single family farm, but after establishing themselves on the specialty market sought to help smaller, more isolated producers by representing and exporting their coffee; providing drying facilities, encouraging biodiversity and  promoting organic agriculture.

Mario Jesús is one of the area’s most established producers, growing coffee up to 2000 MASL near Pariamarca. A former sugarcane farmer, Mario Jesús was the beneficiary of a government backed programme to develop coffee in the region. Mario mostly produces washed Caturra lots like this one, but has been able to diversify with some Bourbon and Typica and experiment with post-harvest processing.