Medium body and medium acidity, with hints of milk chocolate, almond, and lemon, from northcentral Peru. The coffee beans are organically grown and fairly traded, and air roasted in small batches in Lancaster, Pa.

Co-op: La Florida
Region: Chanchamayo
Altitude: 1,200-1,600 masl
Processing: Fully Washed and Patio Dried
Varietal: Bourbon, Catimor, Typica, Caturra

The Country
Peru is located in northwestern South America, right along the Pacific coast. The country is divided into three regions: costa (along the Pacific coast), sierra (the Andes Mountains), and Amazonia (the eastern portion of the country, the source of the Amazon River). These vastly different regions of the country make it difficult to travel from one region to another, but they also allow for a variety of crops, including coffee, which came to the area in the 1700s.

The Coffee
Located in the Chanchamayo region of northeastern Peru, the cooperative farms are small, bringing together coffee producers from 18 hamlets. It has two wet coffee processing plants in the town of La Florida and another in Eneñas, as well as a collection center in Salsipuedes. Most of the farms have Inga and other shaded native forest trees.

The Co-op
In 1965, a group of 100 small-scale coffee farmers from the Chanchamayo region came together to establish the La Florida Cooperative. Today, the co-op has grown to over two thousand farmers who work together to improve the quality of coffee La Florida produces. The revenue from their Fair Trade sales has brought education, infrastructure, credit, and environmental consciousness to this rural area. The co-op has established The Occupational Learning Center for Sustainable Agriculture, which offers training in environmentally-friendly farming techniques, as well as providing healthcare services in rural areas, technical assistance in crop diversification to create additional income, maintenance of five roads, portable water systems, schools, a bridge, a health clinic, and they have purchased machinery and land to assist with coffee production.