Organic Peru La Pumarrosa

About The Producer

Merci Fernandez and her coffee highlight the best of what the Colasay area in Peru has to offer. We had the pleasure of visiting Merci’s farm, La Pumarrosa, in 2020 while visiting farmer partners in Northern Peru with Origin Coffee Lab. Merci is not only an extremely talented farmer, but she’s also one of the managers of Origin Coffee Lab’s remote delivery site and lab in the town of Colasay. There, she and her team intake coffee samples and evaluate deliveries from other farmers in the community. At a youthful 24 years old, Merci’s dedication and passion far exceed her years, which is expressed perfectly through this microlot selection from La Pumarrosa. 

Colasay is one of the most exciting coffee producing regions we’ve visited in recent memory. This remote community in northern Peru consistently produces coffees with standout qualities which are both intriguing and complex. We find coffees from Colasay are elegant in their florality, and sugary sweet on the palate, a combination that always leaves us wanting more. There’s something to be said for the right combination of variety and cultivation conditions, but it takes truly visionary farmers to express the potential of quality coffee.

About the Coffee

One of the most distinctive aspects of this coffee is its variety -- a bourbon mutation that was found just down the road from Merci’s farm. Many of the farmers in the area started cultivating this variety because of its high yield and strong resistance to la roya, a destructive leaf fungus. In addition to her careful harvesting, Merci is dedicated to meticulous management of her fermentation and drying processes. She ferments the coffee without water for 24 hours before moving it to covered, raised beds for a two week drying period. Each of her lots are cupped and segregated according to its score, with only the best lots landing at our roastery.

Why We Love It

This selection of unique bourbon perfectly captures the terroir, or "taste of place", of Colasay, with elegant florality and delightful sweetness. Our team tastes sweet and elegant floral tones of honeysuckle, with a bright lime-like acidity, finishing with cooked confectioners sugar tones reminiscent of marshmallow.