EL CARRO, PERU

Description

Efrain Carhalocollo knows his way around a coffee farm. He’s been in the biz for over 30 years and, for the last 10 years, he’s focused on producing specialty coffee. His wife and daughters help cultivate the coffee along with 8 other employees. Efrain takes care to hire people who truly love coffee to farm the small 3 hectares (7.4 acres) growing area called El Carro. Because the farm is relatively small, Efrain can closely manage the processes and land, which helps improve the coffee quality year after year.

Once the coffee is processed and leaves the farm, Falcon Coffees (the green coffee trader/importer we purchased this lot through) assesses the coffee and sets a price depending on the perceived quality, which is typically 30% above the local price for green coffee. Paying this ‘quality bonus’ not only provides Efrain, his family, and employees a fair wage for the coffee, but it also encourages him to maintain and improve the coffee quality.

El Carro is a beautiful example of what we like to call a ‘coffee’ coffee. It tastes exactly how we want a typical cup of coffee to taste — balanced, chocolatey, sweet, and smooth. Not only do we love El Carro on its own, but we’ve also included this coffee in our seasonal summer blend — Helios. We love a versatile coffee ‘round these parts and El Carro fits the bill perfectly.