Eli Espinoza (Peru)

Starting off the year right with the new harvest from Eli Espinoza’s natural processed caturra. This is our 3rd year working with this coffee with a score of 86.5.

Fast facts

Tasting notes: Passion fruit, champagne acidity, green grape

VARIETY: Caturra

PROCESS: Natural

FARMER: Eli Espinoza Soberón

FARM: San Ignacio

REGION: Las Pirias, Chirinos, Cajarmarca

MUNICIPALITY:  

ALTITUDE:  1,800 masl

Story:

Eli Espinoza has been working in the world of coffee for more than 15 years, and has spent 4 years working with specialty coffees. He, his wife and his three children live on the farm and do most of the work together; they only hire staff during harvest. Don Eli managed to position himself in 8th place in the cup of excellence in 2020 with his natural coffee. The coffee growing areas of San Ignacio are different from most of the coffee areas in Jaen and Chontali, in that the climate is much cooler and drier and there is are different varieties found here which aren’t found in other districts. This variety has very light bronze buds that are fairly uncommon, the cherries cluster like a bourbon and the beans are very small and round. Elvis owns 2 ha of land planted with caturra and this bourbon-like variety. The farm sits at an altitude of 1800 masl. Eli and his family carry out most of the picking themselves, but hire additional help during the peak days of the harvest. Eli ferments his coffee for 36 to 48 hours, since the climate is quite cool, before drying on tarpaulin mats in the sun for 10 to 15 days.

Eli came to the area as a teenager looking for work on farms, and he started out picking coffee in the village. After some time working and saving, he was able to buy his own land and a house, and started producing his own coffee. 

Eli has worked closely with us since the very first days of our Peru project and has transformed from producing washed coffees scoring approximately 85 points, to officially producing the finest natural process coffee in Peru, scoring an incredible 88.73 points amongst the notoriously tough judging criteria. This natural is an explosion of fruit sweetness backed by a thick jammy finish; it is elegant, refined, with uncompromising confidence in the succulent punch it packs.

Roasting notes:

This lot is best reserved for filter. We would recommend starting with a medium heat and increasing it gradually, start with slightly bigger jumps after the turning point and smaller step ups throughout the drying stage. Once the Mallard phase is entered slowly start reducing heat in order to elongate the caramelization to exalt the sweetness. Once at first crack develop around 10-12% for a nice fruity sweet and velvety finish. Aim for an overall roasting time around the ten minute mark.