In early August, Tim and I made a whirlwind trip to northern Peru to visit Cenfrocafe. This is Café Import’s first year working with Cenfrocafe, an association that consists of 2100 producers. The association is incredibly committed to supplying high quality Fair Trade and organic coffee, with 3 Q-graders on staff and a cupping protocol that requires every lot delivered by a producer to be cupped the next day. We were amazed by their quality control procedures, not to mention their coffees!

We started the trip with a cupping session in Lima, then a flight to Chiclayo, and finally a 5 hour drive through the Andes to Jaen. We nicknamed our driver “the Dale Earnhardt of Peru,” who was determined to make it to Jaen as quickly as possible, passing along blind curves and having very strong faith in the protection of flashing headlights and the horn. One piece of advice regarding this drive: if you are prone to carsickness, don’t make this trip at night! The combination of nighttime, our race-car driver, and some strange side effects of Dramamine made this car ride one of the most interesting of my life.

After safely arriving at our hotel, we awoke to a cool, rainy day – the perfect weather for a farm visit with Unidos por el Progreso, one of the associations belonging to Cenfrocafe. We piled into the car for another road trip and visited the farm of Zacarias Neira Melendres and his family in Alto Ihuamaca, about 25 kilometers from the border of Ecuador. Along with members of the association, we toured his processing station and hiked through muddy paths on his picturesque farm. He has produced top-notch coffees and excitedly told us that this year he was going to deliver coffee that scored over 90. We wished him best of luck as we departed! The association hosted us for lunch and provided us with our first taste of cuy. I had no problem trying this delicacy as I never owned a pet guinea pig, and now I can happily cross this off my list of culinary to-dos.

The next day, we visited Cenfrocafe warehouse in Jaen. The 10 minute drive was welcomed after the many hours spent in the car during the previous days. While at the warehouse, we watched a producer deliver his parchment. Samples were taken, parchment was removed, moisture was measured, coffee was sorted, and receipts were filed out in a very efficient and orderly system. Their traceability system and documentation, in the opinion of this former organic inspector, was flawless. We then had a cupping session with Cenfrocafe staff, and to my surprise, Tim and my favorite coffee was the one we had just seen delivered! The sample had been brought from the warehouse, roasted, and added to the cupping table.

Before making the 27 hour trip back home, we met with the management of Cenfrocafe and producers to sign purchase contracts. Meeting with growers to sign contracts that show our commitment to their association and acknowledgment of their hard work was the perfect end to the trip. We will be receiving coffee from Cenfrocafe in October and will keep you posted on arrival dates. A very large thank you to all at Cenfrocafe and K.C. O’Keefe who helped to host our visit!