Peru
El Cerro
Efrain Salvador Carhuallocllo

Efrain’s farm is located right outside of the village of El Corazón, in Northwest Peru. The farm, which he started in 2005, is filled with mostly the Yellow Caturra varietal alongside of this exceptional quality (and 2017 Cup of Excellence winning) Geisha.

Washed process Gesha

Flavour: red fruit, candied plums, mandarin

Body: Acidity:

Roast: omni (filter + espresso)

VERY SPECIAL

Efrain’s farm is located right outside of the village of El Corazón, in Northwest Peru. The farm, which he started in 2005, is filled with mostly Yellow Caturra variety outside of his prize winning Geisha.

All his coffee is carefully harvested, processed, and dried right outside his family home.

In 2005 he bought a plot of land in the upper part of the village, the heart of Chirinos. Efrain began installing half a hectare of coffee of the caturra variety. In 2007 he installed another half hectare more of the same variety and in 2009 installed another hectare more, counting at present with 2 hectares of coffee in production.

The plot is named Cerro (Cerro means mountain), because it is located in an area where there are many natural forests.

The organization Cenfrocafe has been part of this history since 2007 as it began to provide training and technical assistance and discovered that El ECerro had great potential for specialty coffees. The support of the organization has allowed him to always be in the top positions in internal competitions organized by Cenfrocafe. Efrain is a past COE (Cup of Excellence) winner. In 2017 Efrain’s coffee received a whopping 90.61 COE score!

Yulisa Carhuallocllo is Efrain’s daughter. She helps him with cupping his coffees, running a moisture meter etc. She is an integral part to his success.

GEISHA VARIETAL

Geisha is an exceptionally high quality coffee variety that is grown throughout Central America, and is named after the town of Geisha in Ethiopia where the seeds originated.

While the variety produces exceptional quality, the plants are also low yielding and require a large amount of stringent and detailed maintenance. For these reasons it often sells for very high prices. Geisha has proven to be relatively disease resistant in most grown areas.

Now you know a bit more about the background it’s time to enjoy this awesome coffee! If you don’t know where to start, you can use Reuben’s brewing recipe (coming soon, see below).

You can also try your favourite method and play around with some settings to get the best of it. Don’t forget to tell us how it went, adding your recipe here, via email or on Instagram at @samplecoffee.

We look forward to hearing about your experience with this VS coffee!

Learn everything about this coffee:

Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

Dose: 20g ground coffee
Yield: 60g espresso
Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
Labels: recyclable
Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer: Efrain Salvador Carhuallocllo
Country: Peru
Region: San Ignacio
Altitude: 1800-2000m above sea level
Variety: Gesha
Process: washed
Body: Light
Acidity: Balanced
Tasting notes: Red fruit, candied plums, mandarin
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Variety

Gesha variety

An exceptionally high quality variety that has grown in popularity, Gesha is named after the town of Gesha in Ethiopia where the seeds originated.

The location

Coffee from Peru

Peru is well suited to coffee cultivation and production, given its high altitude and climate.

Farm processes

Washed process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.