[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”center” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/Peru_Header_-1-2.jpg” animation=”off” \/][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_color=”#686868″ border_style=”solid” max_width=”1000px” text_font_size=”16″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ header_font=”Raleway|on|||” custom_margin=”||5px|” custom_padding=”||5px|” disabled=”on” disabled_on=”on|on|on”]<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_color=”#686868″ border_style=”solid” max_width=”1000px” text_font_size=”16″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n
When you are first getting to know someone, you start out by noticing the more generally good qualities they have, the things that drew you to them in the first place. Maybe they\u2019re warm and outgoing, they laugh at your jokes, they have an interesting job and a seemingly healthy relationship with their family. <\/span><\/p>\n Once you spend a little time together, you start find yourself compelled to know more, and <\/span>that\u2019s<\/span><\/i> when the nuances start to show\u2014the fact that they get swept up in the same kind of books you do, or that they are able to quote every line of a movie you both love; they use the exact right amount of salt when they cook, and they send handwritten thank-you notes.<\/span><\/p>\n If the first stage is like<\/i> and the second stage is love,<\/i> then we\u2019ve officially been falling in love with Peru for years. <\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.66″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/Peru_2017-4.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” force_fullwidth=”off” animation=”off” \/][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”quality and character” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_color=”#686868″ border_style=”solid” max_width=”1000px” text_font_size=”16″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n \u201cThere just seems to be so much opportunity there for quality\u2014real desire for quality,\u201d says Matt Brown, senior sales at Cafe Imports and our resident Peru expert in the U.S. office, with four sourcing trips to the country marked off in his passport. \u201cIt\u2019s relatively untapped in a lot of ways, in the sense that Peru\u2014like many other origins\u2014has been putting out great coffee for a long time, but it\u2019s generally been full-container sort of stuff. Until recent years, it hasn\u2019t been a focus of the microlot movement, outside of a very few instances.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those full containers have been a backbone of Cafe Imports\u2019 relationship with Peru\u2019s coffee producers, and the focus of our volume from that country starting in around 2006, when we first visited one of the country\u2019s older smallholder cooperatives. The intrigue was early and genuine from the very start: We knew there was a lot to like about the sweet balance and gentle florals of those bulk specialty lots, especially the Fair Trade\u2013 and organic-certified offerings from our longtime primary partner CENFROCAFE, from whom we started sourcing coffees in 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHistorically what we\u2019ve experienced out of Peru have been incredibly balanced coffees, and because of their balance of sweetness, of acidity, of floral components, it makes them really versatile coffees on people\u2019s menus, to fit any number of needs. I think that has been and still is a major strength of Peruvian coffee,\u201d Matt says.<\/strong> \u201cAs we\u2019ve spent more time there, and been able to pull out some of the coffees from individual producers, and the smaller areas within Cajamarca, we\u2019ve been able to find more dynamic flavor profiles. They are unique, all the way from coffees that exhibit really nice fruit character\u2014strawberry and caramel, a lot of sweetness\u2014but different from what you\u2019d get from another origin or processing method. They\u2019re unique and still somehow taste like Peruvian coffee, but in individual colors of Peru that you don\u2019t necessarily experience from the classic larger blended lots.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.66″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/Peru_2017_web-1-3.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” force_fullwidth=”off” animation=”off” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”photo caption” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Cafe Imports senior sales representative Matt Brown at a cupping in Ja\u00e9n, Peru<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Piero and CoE” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_color=”#686868″ border_style=”solid” max_width=”1000px” text_font_size=”16″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n Senior green-coffee buyer Piero Cristiani has also long known that there was something beyond the \u201cnice\u201d lots that we have come to expect\u2014and enjoy, don\u2019t get us wrong\u2014from a cooperative like CENFROCAFE. Since his first visit to the country in 2011, when he started as a green buyer, he\u2019s been committed to supporting and developing a microlot program, as well as a Regional Select to highlight the particular features we prize so much coming from Cajamarca. <\/span><\/p>\n Through Piero\u2019s work in establishing relationships and supporting producers who are dedicated to quality, Cafe Imports has helped smaller, more quality-obsessed micro-projects get off the ground through pre-financing, as well as sensory analysis assistance, and a shared vision for a long-term connection that nourishes everyone involved\u2014kind of like the best and deepest friendships do. <\/strong><\/p>\n Thanks in large part to his presence there and his enthusiasm for the country and its coffees, Piero was selected to participate on the international jury for the first Peru Cup of Excellence<\/a><\/strong> competition, which took place in September of 2017. \u201cIt was a project that had been probably 15 years in the making, but it had been very hard to do that. The producers were very excited during the award ceremony, and cheering for their mates. There was a lot of excitement in that room.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.66″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/Peru_2017_web-6.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” force_fullwidth=”off” animation=”off” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”photo caption” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Cafe Imports senior green-coffee buyer, Piero Cristiani (left) visits with CENFROCAFE<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”microlots” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_color=”#686868″ border_style=”solid” max_width=”1000px” text_font_size=”16″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n That level of excitement is palpable far beyond the Cup of Excellence stage, and it crackles like those magical moments at the beginning of a romance you just know is real\u2014it has a kind of glow.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exciting for us to find coffees that are microlots and things like that, of course, but I would say that it\u2019s more exciting to experience it from their<\/i> side and see how excited they<\/i><\/strong> are that people care about and are paying attention to what they\u2019ve been doing,\u201d Matt says.<\/strong> \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel quite as much like going into an origin and talking about things that are supposed to change, but going into an origin to celebrate and saying thank you to people for what they\u2019ve already been doing, and to show them recognition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As in any good, strong relationship, the partners are there for each other through all kinds of shifts, twists, and turns, and Cafe Imports is as devoted to the longstanding connections we have with CENFROCAFE for our high-quality blended lots as we are to helping a few smaller, microlot-focused exporters get off the ground. CENFRO\u2019s focus on volume, efficiency, and consistency makes the coop a wonderful and reliable source of the types of solid and versatile coffees our customers depend on, specifically when it comes to sourcing lots that carry certifications of Fair Trade and organic. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow that there are more partners, more places to visit, more offers, more coffees to taste, more opportunities to connect with coffees that people can feel a bit of closeness with, more people are taking notice and are excited,\u201d Matt says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really great time to invest in what\u2019s happening in Peru, because we only expect it to get bigger and better. The more that people invest early on, the greater the rewards will be of getting awesome coffees and having those relationships in place.\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.66″ src=”\/\/cdn.cafeimports.com\/images\/Peru_2017_web-1.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” force_fullwidth=”off” animation=”off” \/][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.66″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” show_divider=”on” color=”#000000″ \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”jeff from caffenation” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_color=”#686868″ border_style=”solid” max_width=”1000px” text_font_size=”16″ background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.66″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n