Our second year offering this Peru La Osa coffee, named after the spectacled bear 'Oso de anteojos' which frequents the area of El Chaupe in San Ignacio. The bear helps pollinate plants by carrying the pollen in its thick hair, as well as opening spaces in the tree canopy which allows light for germination and growth of species in the lower forest.

This is a certified Fairtrade and Organic coffee from the Cooperativa Agraria Frontera San Ignacio. There are sixteen committees that form the coop of small coffee producers and the organisation provides coffee collection and marketing services; it also provides social and micro-finance services to its partners. Often farmers can grow great coffee, but getting the word out to importers and roasters is not an easy skill, and a cooperative with an ability to do that proves it’s worth very quickly. Originally forming in 1968 the cooperative has a presence within the districts of La Coipa, Huarango, and Tabaconas as well as San Ignacio and have an aim to “develop a competitive sustainable agriculture with a sense of belonging and entrepreneurial capacity of its managers and workers, with national and international recognition for its trajectory and sustainable quality.”

The coffee comes from 4 women growers: Fredesvinda Granda, Maria Edita Cordova, Maria Emita Garcia, and Felipa Medina. Unusually for Peru the coop have their own wet mill facility in San Ignacio, which provides the space and facilities for the experimental processing like this anaerobic honey to be carried out. 

Selective handpicking is performed and floaters skimmed from a basket of water. The cherries are then de-pulped without water, before undergoing an anaerobic fermentation stage for 18 hours. Coffee is then taken to solar tunnels and dried on raised beds for 24 days.