La Esmeralda (Organic

Peru: La Esmeralda, Catuai & Marshell, Washed (Organic) A super smooth and creamy caramel fills this cup. A gentle plum fruitiness as it cools and a hint of nutmeg on the finish rounds out the easy drinking coffee. This lot is a new partnership for Ozone and the very first time we’re roasting coffee from La Esmeralda. We selected Kelvin's Washed Catuai and Marshell from the countless samples that cross our cupping table because it simply stood out as a great tasting coffee. It showcases a notably different flavour profile to La Mandarina (another Peruvian lot we’ll be releasing soon) despite coming from farms which are geographically quite close together, really showcasing the variety of flavour profiles Peruvian coffee can offer. The perfect recipe The La Coipa district is nestled in the north east corner of the Cajamarca region of Peru. La Coipa is a fantastic coffee-producing area - the locale of Nima Juarez (El Roble and La Quebrada) whose coffee we have enjoyed in previous years, and Irene Herrera (La Mandarina) whose coffee we will be releasing later this season. The area is home to the El Horcon Comite (a small producer group) of which Kelvin Guerrero is part. Kelvin is 29 years old, young by wider coffee producer standards but typical in Peru where younger farmers are quite common. His farm sits at 1,850 metres above sea level. He has processed this lot in a very classic way for the region, fully Washed using a tiled tank and then sun dried. He's currently farming 2 hectares, planted predominantly with Catuai alongside a small amount of Marshell, a more recent addition to the farm. Marshell's origins are still being debated. The most widely held view is that it's a natural mutation of Bourbon, first spotted in 1997 by a farmer called Grimanés Morales Lizana on her farm in San Ignacio, Cajamarca. She propagated from it after a disease outbreak wiped out everything around it, and named it drawing on the names of her family members, including her father-in-law Marcelino. An alternative theory, backed by some genetic testing, suggests Marshell may be related to Costa Rica 95, a Catimor-group cultivar developed by ICAFE from Caturra and Timor Hybrid 832/1. No definitive published research has settled the question either way. What both theories agree on is the disease resistance. Many Peruvian farmers were encouraged to plant Catimor varietals through the mid-2010s by cooperatives, exporters, and government programmes to help combat leaf rust and other diseases. Catimors divide opinion in the coffee community: partial Robusta genetics can lead to flat, vegetal cup profiles when not handled with care. This lot is a reminder that they don't have to. For more on the coffee varietals behind Marshell, read our varietal guides on Catimor, Bourbon, and Marshell itself. Coffee in Peru Coffee was first introduced to Peru via its northern neighbour Ecuador in the mid-18th century. Britain was one of the first states to formally recognize Peruvian independence in 1823. Loans made by the British Government to finance the war of independence had already been defaulted on by 1825, leading over 2,000,000 hectares of land to be transferred to British ownership in part payment of the debt via The Peruvian Corporation. Roughly a quarter of this was then put to agricultural use, which jumpstarted Peruvian coffee’s international trade in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Coffee production in Peru began with large landholdings primarily in the ownership of wealthy European elites, however, as workers migrated from other areas of Peru to provide labour on the farms, many began to branch out to farm independently on the abundant available land across Cajamarca, Junín, Cusco, and San Martin. Eventually the balance shifted as larger landholders departed, leaving the small-scale “peasant” producers as the majority. Land reforms and government programs in the 1950’s and 60’s further encouraged coffee cultivation, with small-scale, indigenous farmers now being responsible for most of the country’s production. Today, around 425,000 hectares of the country are dedicated to coffee farming, mostly centred in Cajamarca where half of all Peruvian coffee is grown. Small scale farms are most common, with the average coming in at just under 3 hectares. This industry structure means many Peruvian coffee producers must navigate the problems typically associated with smallholder farming, such as difficulty accessing credit, mill processing, and inefficiencies in managing production. Cooperatives such as El Horcon Comite help to mitigate risks and pool resources that are crucial to running profitable businesses. Much of Peru’s coffee is collected from small farms then combined to be milled and marketed through cooperatives, some made of up to 2,000 farmers, but improvements in