Peru: Einer Saldivar, El Cedro #2 (Organic)

Lemon and lime lead the way – crisp, bright and refreshing – with a twist of green apple keeping things lively. Sweet meringue on the finish rounds it out into an elegant, clean cup. 
 
We visited Einer for the first time in 2022 and every year since we’ve been lucky to buy coffee from his farm. This year we cupped a few different lots grown at El Cedro and chose two from the table because the end flavour profiles stand out so beautifully from one another. The coffee we have here is characteristic of lots we’ve seen from Einer in previous years, bright and citrusy. Later this summer we’ll be releasing the second contrasting lot - we highly recommend tasting both coffees for an exploration of how even the tiniest differences at origin can impact the flavour profile in your mug.

Worth The Journey 

Einer Salvidar’s coffee farm El Cedro is located in one of the remotest areas we've ever visited. Roland (our Green Buyer) has popped by to visit Einer and his wife a few times now and it is quite the trek even for someone used to journeying to coffee farms regularly - but very worth it! Getting to El Cedro takes… 8 hours by car from the nearest working airport to the town of Jaen, roughly 1.5 hours by car from Jaen to the local receiving village, then another 30 minutes by car to his house, and finally a 45-minute steep climb up a hill to find Einer out on his farm. 

Having inherited his farm from his parents, nearly all his neighbours are cousins or extended family - his connection to the land is significant and it’s an important factor to Einer. At around 2,000 m.a.s.l. and growing traditional Bourbon coffee, he has everything that might be expected to produce great quality coffee, but with a lack of access to a good buyer and to agronomic information he still had a lot more potential to achieve from the farm.  
 
It is through the work of Origin Coffee Lab, and their receiving station in Einer's local village, that this coffee is possible. Without them, we would never have known about Einer’s delicious coffee and he would never have received the support needed to begin to improve his agronomic practices and work towards a more sustainable future. 

Investments At Origin 

In August 2023, during his visit, Roland discussed with Einer the issues they were facing with their coffee processing equipment. The depulper, fermentation tank, and processing station (essential equipment for preparing the harvested coffee before it's sent to the dry mill) were in need of some maintenance. The fermentation tank was cracked and hard to clean, the depulper was misaligned, and the overall equipment was in disrepair. As a result, a large portion of the harvest failed to meet the high specialty coffee grade that Einer’s farm is capable of producing and ended up as commercial coffee, which fetches a much lower market price. In partnership with Origin Coffee Lab, who helped coordinate the work using local suppliers for materials and labour, Ozone covered the costs for the necessary repairs.

Same But Different 

At harvest time Einer uses a donkey to transport most of his picked cherry down the hill from the farm to his wet mill located at the house. Both of the coffees that we have bought from El Cedro this year are the same varietal (Bourbon) and both have been Washed processed at Einer’s wet mill. The only difference between these very different-tasting coffees is the time within the harvest that each was processed. Einer is very methodical and controlled with how he treats every batch, following the same steps to process each picking, but there are naturally differences that occur day to day. These arise from the area of trees being harvested and the weather on the farm. There will naturally be a small variance in the cherries themselves depending on which part of the farm they come from - more sun, more drainage, less wind etc will all impact how the coffee cherries mature. Then when it comes to processing, any small difference in climatic conditions outside his control will affect how the coffee ferments and dries, a slightly faster ferment or longer drying stage will all lead to changes in the final cup profile.

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 traceability in recent years means we are able to access more single-producer lots like this one and highlight the regional terroirs of a country with an official 28 microclimates and celebrate exceptional small coffee producers.  

• Country: Peru 
• Region: Cajamarca  
• District: Colasay 
• Producer: Einer Saldivar 
• Farm: El Cedro 
• Elevation: 2,000 m.a.s.l. 
• Variety: Bourbon 
• Processing method: Washed 

Cupping Notes: Lemon & Lime, Meringue, Green Apple. 

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores 

• Clean Cup: 7/8 
• Sweetness: 6.5/8 
• Acidity: 7/8 
• Mouthfeel: 6/8 
• Flavour: 6.5/8 
• Aftertaste: 6/8 
• Balance: 6/8 
• Overall: 7/8 
• Correction: +36 
• Total: 88/100 

If you'd like to find out more about how we score coffees, make sure to read our blog post "What Do Coffee Cupping Scores Actually Mean?" and if you'd like to try cupping yourself, we've got a guide to that too: What is Coffee Cupping.

Medium - Keep this fairly quick, through first and well into the gap, dropping just before second gets going.