Peru Finca La Esperanza San Martin

Approximately the combined area of Texas, California and Louisiana, with 8% their combined GDP and roughly the lone population of California, Peru is bordered northwest by Ecuador, northeast by Colombia, due east by Brazil, southeast by Bolivia, by a small 168-mile border at the southern extreme with Chile and by a dominant 1500-mile western Atlantic Ocean coastline. Rich in geographical splendor, ancient lore and architectural wonder, Peru likely is a top priority on most travel “bucket list”.

The Andes Mountain Range runs 4,400 miles, of the ranges total 5,530 miles, north/south along the Peruvian Atlantic Seaboard at a width of 125-435 miles with the southern summit of Mt. Huascaran at 22,205 feet dominating the Peruvian system. The Sacred Valley of the Incas, also known as the Urubamba Valley, approximately 406 miles northwest of the Bolivian capital La Paz, contains two of the world’s most precious ancient sites.  The valley is 100 miles in length with the “City of Cuzco” to the southeastern extreme and the fabled Machu Picchu to the northwestern extreme.  Cuzco is considered the ancient capital of the Inca Empire with the names genesis etymologically related to a foundation myth phrase “qusqu wanka” or “rock of the owl”. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the significant Pre-Columbian and colonial construction and is still inhabited as the seventh most populist Peruvian city. Machu Picchu, translated “Old Summit”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considered one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.  Due to the Inca Civilization having no written language, the purpose of the site is definitively unknown and actively debated with the leading theory having it constructed around 1450 AD as an Incan royal estate. The site alone attracts greater than 1.5 million tourists annually making it understandable why Peru, with a plethora of destination gems, is a travel dream.

However, our destination is to lofty mountain sides harboring those natural caffeinated nuggets. Traveling along the Pan-American Highway, a motorable roadway from northern Alaska to the tip of southern Chile, we will arrive at Finca La Esperanza, translated “Farm of Hope”, which is our coffee’s origin. This is a precarious 10,400-mile journey starting in Prudhoe Bay Alaska which, at mile-marker 7263, includes porting body and car via the Caribbean Sea, due to the Darien Gap’s 66 miles of impregnable rainforest separating Central from South America, embarking at Colon Panama and disembarking at Cartagena Columbia. Traveling an additional 2708 miles from Cartagena, parallel to the Atlantic Ocean and through the length of Ecuador, to Piura Peru we hang a left meandering eastward 416 miles to the remotely scenic and abundantly fertile rainforest immersed village of Soritor located in both the coffee region and political province of San Martin.

In this balanced ecosystem, encompassing a picturesque sanctuary for bird and wildlife, is Walter Gutierrez’s 2.5 familial farm on which our Peru Finca La Esperanza San Martin is cultivated using traditional all-natural growing methods. Wet-processed, removal of all cherry fruit with the bean dried, and grown on steep slopes between 2952-6562 feet, we get a classically balanced Peruvian cup featuring medium body, mild acidity and sweet aromatic flavors. Experience the smooth long lingering taste of chocolate and cherry… a sweet ripeness at the peak of season.  Undertones of citrus, hints of orange zest, and sweet malt are noticeable. In the finest of Peruvian tradition, Finca La Esperanza has a refined complexity that will mirror a Fall day’s soft embrace. May Walter Gutierre’s “Farm of Hope” transmute the universal salient of time and distance creating a sanctum of optimism, serenity and peace upon your mornings and days.

Process: Wet-processed… removal of all cherry fruit with the bean dried

Elevation: 2952-6562 feet