We have been roasting our flagship Fullsteam espresso since 2010, but this year we took another step to make this best-selling coffee even better! Now, you'll taste high-quality coffee grown by the community of José Gálvez in every cup.
José Gálvez (Peru) is a community of 86 families, 67 of who rely solely on coffee for their income. We started buying their coffee through the ACPC Cooperative in 2018.
Earlier this summer we visited José Gálvez to cup their coffee and meet representatives from the community. We were immediately struck by the unique micro-climate of the town and surrounding farms in the valley, which has one of only a few centralised washing stations in the entire Chanchanmayo region.
It was clear there was immediate potential for a long term relationship, aligning the desires of the producing group with our needs.
As a well established roastery, we have been able to commit to purchasing their entire 2019 crop - estimated some 45 tonnes of green coffee.
We were able to determine a fixed price with the producers in Jose Galvez that will allow them to cover over and above all production costs, pay seasonal workers fair wages and reinvest into the land.
We will be working closely with José Gálvez next August and encouraging small changes in the harvesting and drying processes. This will allow them to increase their yields, and open up to new buyers which we will introduce to the project.
These changes to their processes may be as small as investing in more fermentation tanks so the processing isn’t rushed at peak harvest - thereby decreasing wastage and vastly improving consistency of their crop and the cup scores of their coffee. It is important to focus on increasing productivity and efficiency first, in order to secure long-term contracts and ensure price security on future investments.
Once we have established a relationship with the community we can initiate further quality-driven projects and social initiatives, which we will be able to replicate across all of the member regions of ACPC.
WHO ARE PERU'S ACPC COOPERATIVE?
Since 2014, we have been sourcing the beans for our house Fullsteam Espresso and The Mount Blend coffees from the ACPC Cooperative in Peru.
