Peru – Puente Solaya

Peru – Puente Solaya

Tasting notes

Peru Puente Solaya has aromas of walnut and orange zest, with a touch of florality and a spicy edge. In the cup, chocolate comes through alongside tonka bean and a buttery, full sweetness.

The cup is more juicy than bright. There’s fruit, but it stays rounded and blends into the sweetness. Lightly roasted, but not mild: the body is full and the flavor lingers. As filter coffee, the cup is balanced and rounded.

As espresso, the sweetness, fruitiness, and chocolate come through more strongly, but achieving an even flow takes some adjustment to the grind size and dose. That’s why espresso isn’t the first brewing recommendation on the label.

Specifications

• Country: Peru
• Department: Cajamarca
• Province: Cutervo
• District: Callayuc
• Producers: 17
• Varieties: Caturra, Pache
• Elevation: 1,800 to 2,000 meters above sea level
• Harvest period: June to September
• Harvest year: 2025
• Processing: washed, fermented for 48 hours or longer
• Drying: 15 days in the sun
• Supplier: Cultivar Coffees B.V.

Callayuc, Cutervo Province

Thanks to the Andes and its proximity to the equator, northern Peru has a warm climate, fertile soil, and dense vegetation. Within this area, the Cajamarca region stands out for its varied landscapes, from Andean ecosystems to high-altitude forests.

Cutervo Province is known for its cloud forests, high-altitude wetlands, and dry forests, protected within Cutervo National Park. The park covers more than 82,000 hectares and provides food and water to over 90,000 people across seven watersheds. Water is the area’s most important resource, allowing much of the population to grow coffee. Sugarcane, rice, fruit trees, and livestock farming are also common in the area.

Coffee cultivation in Callayuc has only recently taken off, especially around the populated centers.

How Cultivar found these farmers

The collaboration began more or less by chance. In 2020, Cultivar tasted coffee from a producer in the area named Azucena and was impressed. Dreyde and Lisanne from the Cultivar team got on their motorbikes and rode for two and a half hours to Callayuc, asking along the way if anyone knew where she lived. They found her, and her coffee proved excellent once again.

Back at Cultivar’s coffee warehouse in Jaén, they told their colleague Goti the story. She mentioned that her husband was from the neighboring community. He went back with them and introduced the team to his family and neighbors. That immediately built trust. Within a few weeks, many bags came in, from which the highest-scoring lots were selected for this microlot.

The name refers to the surrounding area. Puente means bridge in Spanish, and Solaya is the hill that separates the two communities. The hill thus represents the connection between two villages with great coffee potential and welcoming people. Read more about Cultivar’s work in Peru at cultivar.pe.