PERU
CHINCHIQUILLA
SAN IGNACIO, CAJAMARCA, PERU
from Caravela Coffee
Name: Chinchiquilla
Location: San Ignacio, Cajamarca, PERU
Altitude: 1500 - 1950 MASL
Processing: Washed
Drying: Raised Beds
Shade trees: Pajurillo, Guabas, and native trees
Predominant Variety: Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catimor
Main crop period: June to December
Harvested May to October
Shipped August to November
21 Lots from 13 Coffee Producers Comprise this lot
Rob’s Sinar Moisture Meter Reading: 10.3%
Water Displacement Density Reading: 1,236 g/L
From Caravela:
Along the highlands of the municipality of San Ignacio in the Cajamarca department in northern Peru, is a protected humid mountain cloud forest called “Bosques el Chaupe, Cunía y Chinchiquilla.”. This area was established just recently in 2019, is the first protected area in Cajamarca, Peru, and protect more than 54,000 acres within one of the most renowned hotspots for biodiversity on the planet.
This forest extends to various communities inside the province of San Ignacio such as Chirinos, La Coipa, Namballe, San Ignacio, and Tabaconas. This region is known for having constant rainfall during the year, which allows producers to farm in an ideal climate to produce amazing coffee. The cloud forest, play a major role in collecting and releasing precipitation that then flows through the entire basin and supplies water to all the communities around the province of San Ignacio.
More than 30 producers in San Ignacio deliver coffees which contribute to the “Chinchiquilla” lots. Farm sizes vary, with many small producers around 4-5 hectares are the mode. This lot was a 33x 69kg bag lot which was the result of 13 producers who delivered a total of 21 lots of coffee (average of 1.5 bags/ lot).
One of those producers, Beder Rupay, is a testament to the Caravela model. Beder farms 3 hectares of coffee on his 5 hectare farm, Finca EL Conjuro. Beder purchased his farm 10 years ago and decided to diversify his income with coffee, and is growing Bourbon, Caturra, and Catimor varieties which are common to the area. Recognizing his farm had potential for higher quality, Beder refocused his efforts 3 years ago on the specialty coffee. Market. He began working with better fertilizers, realizing his cup quality increased with better plant nutrition.
Additionally, Beder Rupay worked closely with our PECA team in Cajamarca to achieve status as an accredited "PECA" producer. This “PECA” certificate is an incentive program offered by Caravela, where in a producer will earn even higher premiums for delivered parchment by reaching milestones on the farm level such as establishing a nursery and a successful pruning schedule, as well as delivering larger volumes of higher cup quality parchment. Now Beder is a leader in his community and works with and empowers his neighbors by sharing what he’s learned.
All photos courtesy of the coffee producers who supplied them via Caravela Coffee.
Caravela Coffee
in Peru
From Caravela:
Started in 2017, Caravela Peru operations span north to south in 4 departments where coffee is produced, partnering with more than 400 coffee farmers in over 16 distinct communities. Our main Peru office is in Lima, and we have Bodega/Purchasing Warehouses with QC labs embedded in numerous coffee producing municipalities including Quillabamba and Cusco in the south, and Jaen and San Ignacio in the north.
Why?
Peru is a major source of washed Mild Arabica coffee to the world, and a major contributor to coffees shipping during the Fall/Winter months in North America. Peru is the 8th largest exporter of coffee and offers the opportunity for large volumes of Organic Certified coffee as the 3rd largest producer of certified lots. Peru is made up of mostly independent coffee farmers who can benefit from the. Benefits the Caravela model offers. Many cooperatives exist but they don’t cover much of the total system.
In Peru, farmers are shifting from commodity production to Specialty, realizing that investing on producing quality is worth it. As a seller of fresh and in-season coffees, Caravela sees Peruvian coffee is an excellent opportunity for roasters who demand high quality and have seasonal focused menus. More than 70% of coffee production in Peru is high altitude farming mostly traditional varieties (Typica, Caturra, Bourbon) from 1,000-1,800 masl, which allows for high quality arabica production specialty roasters around the world are seeking.
Climate in Peru is not without its challenges and is becoming less predictable. Unexpected and heavier rains during the harvest prevents even drying of processed parchment and can lead to los crops. Stronger harvest storms may also lead to additional crop loss as unpicked cherries fall off the tree to the ground and rot. As climate change continues to ravage the world and disrupt the consistent global supply of arabica, it is important to Caravela to continue to increase our reach, work with more producers, and do what we can to enable farmers to increase productivity and quality if we want to have Specialty coffee in the future.
About Caravela Coffee (in their own words):
Caravela Coffee
Mission and Concept:
Since inception in 2000, Caravela has been committed to closing the gap between quality minded roasters and small-scale coffee growers, while adding value to the supply chain through proliferating sustainable practices. The Caravela model enables producers to gain market presence and earn payments up-front and in-full, where less efficient and traditional intermediary models fail at times.
Caravela endeavors to create and nurture direct and long-term relationships between coffee growers and roasters through our model and guiding principles of quality, sustainability, traceability, financial transparency, and education for producers and roasters.
What began as a single parchment purchasing operation in Colombia started by two Colombian friends with backgrounds in coffee farming and finance, has grown to the 1st Carbon Neutral Certified Specialty Coffee export and import business, with more than 200 coffee professionals working in 7 Latin American origin operations and 4 global import offices. Caravela manages the supply chain from the farm-gate to the roaster’s door and offer one-stopconvenience to a range of Specialty Coffees for discerning roaster.
Caravela’s success relies on the strength of our producer relationships, a rigorous quality driven parchment purchasing model, and our PECA team of more than 40 trained agronomists who educates producers and their families on best practices to become more profitable by increasing productivity and improving cup quality.
The Caravela model allows our Purchasing and PECA teams to communicate immediate quality feedback and pay above market premiums for all levels of cup quality for daily parchment deliveries to our Bodegas (Purchasing Warehouses). These prompt assessments allow coffee farmers to have a more profitable farming business and overall quality of life.
Caravela Quality Analysts ensure high standards through the careful inspection and measurement of numerous physical criteria in order to ensure 100% of the coffees we export meet and exceed contracted roaster quality standards.
Recent Recognition:
World’s First Carbon Neutral Coffee Trading Company
“Caravela Coffee has become the world’s first green coffee trading company to achieve Carbon Neutral Standard for its operations across the globe and join the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Initiative. One Carbon World, a UK-based organization that helps businesses achieve carbon neutrality, verified Caravela’s carbon footprint measurements across its 11 different operations around the world.”
2025 Pledge
http://greener.caravela.coffee/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkB_l_1R2RU
https://dailycoffeenews.com/2021/08/11/caravela-coffee-meets-un-recognized-carbon-neutral-standard/
BCorp
https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/caravela-coffee/
Caravela is a BCorp Certified leader in coffee and has been recognized as a “Bcorp: Best for The World” since 2015 top-performing company in numerous BCorp categories.
“Best For The World”: The Best For The World list is comprised of companies in the top 10 percent out of more than 1,800 Certified B Corporations. Additional recognition has been given for
” Worker”: The Best For The World B Corps in the Workers impact area achieved a top 5% score by putting in place exemplary employee-friendly practices, such as ownership opportunities, job flexibility, and fair-chance hiring policies.
“Community”: The Best For The World in the Community impact area believe that success should be shared, and they scored in the top 5% of their size group for their efforts in the community, including charitable giving, investment in diversity, and educational opportunities.
https://caravela.coffee/project/why-we-are-a-b-corp/
“We are part of the B Corp movement because we believe we have responsibility to the planet and the communities we work in.”
SCA 2022 Sustainability Award Recipient
https://sca.coffee/sca-news/presenting-the-2022-sca-sustainability-award-winners
Caravela was just awarded the 2022 SCA Sustainability Award:
“The projects, business models, and people receiving these awards are not only dedicated to confronting the enormous challenges facing the specialty coffee industry—from climate change to gender inequality—but also collaborating across geographies, cultures, and value chain roles, and sharing the lessons they have learned for the benefit of the entire coffee sector.”