La Osa - Anaerobic Honey

Origin: Peru

Producer: Cooperativa Agraria Frontera San Ignacio

Process: Anaerobic Honey

Altitude: 1600-1700m

Varietals: Bourbon, Catimor, Caturra, Mundo Novo, Pache, Typica

Notes: Pomegranate, Caramel, Strawberry

This coffee is named after the local spectacled bear which frequents the region called El Chaupe. It helps pollinate plants by carrying the pollen in its thick hair and opens up spaces in the tree canopy allowing light for the growth of the species on the forest floor. 

The coffee comes from 4 women growers, who have carried out this experiment at a wet mill facility in San Ignacio owned by the Cooperativa Agraria Frontera San Ignacio. The cherries are handpicked, depulped without water and then subjected to anaerobic fermentation for 18 hours. The coffee is then dried for 24 days on raised beds in solar tunnels. Each individual contributor’s coffee is cupped for quality and consistency before being added to the final blend. 

The El Oso project conserves forests near coffee-growing communities in the San Ignacio nature sanctuary. Spectacled bears and the tapir andino are the two main species being protected in the wild by conservation, and there are a further 186 species of birds and 13 species of amphibians in the sanctuary. The cooperative works with 413 members across Northern Peru and pushes a culture of farming practices that protect nature and wildlife in danger of extinction. El Osa takes the feminine form of the project name and refers to this coffee being produced by an all-female team of producers.