Peruvian coffees used to be somewhat of an afterthought for specialty coffee drinkers when compared to some of the more celebrated American coffee producers. It’s not that Peru doesn’t consistently put out top-quality lots like Brazil or Colombia. We’ve tasted some incredible Peruvian coffees each year, after all. Rather, Peru simply exports its coffees in substantially smaller quantities than its neighbouring producers, due to the fact that most Peruvian coffee farmers operate on a relatively small scale. Producers don’t typically have access to the infrastructure and resources necessary to produce large quantities of specialty-quality coffees but they are certainly able to produce some remarkable small lots.

Fortunately, these days Peruvian coffees are a lot more readily available, and enjoyed by more coffee enthusiasts than ever. Our friends at Rosetta Roastery have played a significant role in making Peruvian specialty coffees available to South African consumers, and have released numerous tasty Peruvian lots over the last few years. Thanks to them, we're now enjoying high-quality Peruvian specialty coffees regularly, and we think this is a welcome development. This is the first lot we’ve ever had from the Valle Verde collective, an environmentally and socially conscious group dedicated to improving the quality of both its yields and the livelihoods of its member producers. We’re excited to have it on our shelves.

Phaedon's tasting notes

This coffee has so many of the characteristics that I love in Rosetta's Peruvian releases. They occupy a special spot in their range. These are the classic coffees, the nutty, sweet, toasty, mellow, hug-in-a-mug kind of coffees. They make you forget all about anaerobic fermentations and esoteric varieties. They're coffee the way it ought to taste, gosh darn it.

OK; maybe I don't always feel that way about whacky flavours, - I do enjoy them too - but I certainly never complain when I'm sipping on something traditionally delicious like this lot. I particularly enjoyed it in my siphon brew, on 16 clicks on my Comandante, with a 1m steep and 1m draw-down. I share these details so that you too can seek out the elusive note of Nutella (with all the appropriate deference to trademarks). I would also highly recommend this coffee for espresso and espresso-like brews, and even a pretty tasty batch brew.

Rosetta Roastery's notes

Style: Classic
Flavour profile: Full and sweet, toasted malt, barley candy

"In recent years, Peru has broken records and achieved some of its highest green coffee production levels of the decade! Although, the country has more to offer than sheer quantity. At such high altitudes, the slow ripening of the cherries that make up this collective lot leads to notably dense coffee beans - in combination with the larger Caturra and Catimor beans, longer roast times with moderate heat application yield the best results!"

Coffee details from Rosetta

"The Valle Verde Collective has 483 active producers, tending to over 1,055 hectares of coffee trees. Established in 2016, their commitment to environmental and social responsibility, underscored by gender equality, has been evident - female coffee farmers making up 35% of their producers. Along with their Fair Trade Organic certification, they have been collaborating with the MOCCA (Maximising Opportunities in Coffee and Cacao in the Americas) project, leveraging technology and financial advancements to continually improve coffee quality."

• Altitude: 1520 1820 masl
• Processing: Washed
• Variety: Caturra, Catimor
  
• Region: Amazonas
• Country: Peru
• Producers: Smallholder farmers of the Valle Verde Collective
• Harvest: 2023