Discover the top 10 world-famous delicious Peruvian specialty coffee growing regions – Part 1 – Northern Peru

Peru is one of the few countries where almost all areas of the territory have ideal conditions for growing coffee. This specialness comes from its prime geographical location. Peru is located right in the middle of the coffee belt – a tropical region with favorable soil types for coffee growth. Moreover, this country also has a rich diversity of ecosystems, climate, fertile soil, and high altitude with the Andes range running from top to bottom. This caused coffee growing to take place throughout Peru. There are 10 main Peruvian specialty coffee growing regions: the North (4 regions), the Central region (3 regions) and the South (3 regions). Each region has specific characteristics that create a unique appeal for each region’s coffee.

Northern Peru, bordering Ecuador and Colombia, possesses rich natural conditions with dense forests, mountains, and coastal areas. Prominent Peruvian specialty coffee-growing regions in this area include Cajamarca, Piura, San Martin, and Amazonas.

1. Cajamarca

Cajamarca is located in northern Peru and borders Ecuador. With thousands of green valleys, river systems, and Andean mountains reaching heights of up to 2750 meters above sea level, it’s no surprise that Cajamarca is one of Peru’s most popular and renowned coffee-growing regions. Cajamarca has 53,038 hectares of coffee cultivation, producing 48,182 tons of coffee per year. Coffee flavors in this growing region tend to be bright, floral, sweet, high in acidity, and a bit of a chocolate flavor.

This place has many long-standing and reputable farms and cooperatives that play a pivotal role in coffee development in the area. When it comes to coffee producers in Cajamarca, Finca La Palestina is a brand not to be missed. This farm is run by generations of the Alarcón Coronel family and has been in existence for over 70 years. They are a renowned producer in the specialty coffee industry in Peru for high quality, extremely rare batches with distinctly Peruvian flavor profiles.

Experience Finca La Palestina’s specialty coffee beans here

Image of coffee growing area at Finca La Palestine

2. Piura

Piura is a famous coffee-producing region with beautiful beaches. Piura has a semi-tropical climate among steep “inter-Andean” valleys at an altitude of 900-2,000 meters. Most of the coffee in this area is grown in Huancabamba province mainly popular varieties such as Typica, Caturra, and Catimor. Piura has 7,979 hectares of coffee cultivation, producing 3,044 tons of coffee per year less than other Peruvian specialty coffee-growing regions. The flavor of coffee here shares similar characteristics of brightness and high acidity found in the coffee-growing regions of Northern Peru. However, Piura coffee has a lighter floral aroma, dark chocolate flavor, and sweet fruit flavors.

Cooperatives in the Piura coffee-growing region of Peru are making significant efforts to collaborate and share resources for development. It’s all aimed at improving quality and achieving certifications. Today, most coffee producers in Piura can increase traceability by calculating where the coffee comes from across regions.

Piura are mainly popular varieties such as Typica, Caturra and Catimor

3. San Martin

San Martin is a Peruvian specialty coffee-growing area deep in the northern jungle. This place is famous for its nature reserves, waterfalls, diversity of flowers, and birds. San Martin is also the third-largest coffee-producing region in Peru and is constantly growing. This growing area has 87,163 hectares of coffee cultivation, producing 82,319 tons of coffee per year. The flavor of coffee from San Martin is characterized by floral, fruity, chocolate aromas mixed with the rich taste of grains.

San Martin cooperatives are growing in membership and exporting more and more organic, high-quality, certified coffee from San Martin. Farmers here also strive to apply an agroforestry system to grow coffee while protecting the environment and sustainability of the farm. Thanks to that, the ability to diversify crops increases, bringing many sources of income for smallholder farmers.

Peruvian specialty coffee farmers strive to apply agroforestry systems

4. Amazonas

Amazonas is also a northern coffee-growing region in Peru and borders Ecuador. This region is famous for the Kuelap archaeological site, near the center of the Chachapoyas region, and Gotca Falls. With stunning scenery and unique farming traditions, Amazonas has a wide variety of high-quality, award-winning coffees. Amazonas has 53,258 hectares of coffee plantations, producing 34,966 tons of coffee per year. The coffee flavor is delicate with high acidity.

The cooperative in Amazonas focuses on investing in the community and enhancing its ability to process higher-quality coffee by acquiring wet grinders and storage facilities. They also build and renovate laboratory infrastructure. These efforts have enabled their members to increase the quality and raise the price of coffee in the market.

Peru’s specialty coffee-growing regions have unique soil and climate types

Above, XLIII Coffee has introduced to you four coffee-growing areas in Northern Peru. In the next part of the series, we will explore more of the other great coffee-growing regions in Peru. Please continue to follow the XLIII Coffee Journal channel to discover more about the unique and rich flavors of Peruvian specialty coffee!

Source collected from khipucoffee

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