#21 Peru

Like most places in northern Peru, the varieties of the group are often mixed, and many of the trees have been in the region for almost 40 years. They mainly have local Caturra, Catuai, Bourbons, some typical, and Catimor. But Catimor is both rare and diminishing. The local producers call the non-Catimor trees “Bourbon” or “Costa Rica,” even if they could be Caturras or Catuai, etc.

This coffee is part of our sourcing program in Peru through Origin Coffee Lab. We acquire microlots or communal blends from small, family-operated farms, where the entire production process occurs.

Coffee from Peru are usually very mild and bodied, with less acidity which is very nice for espresso. 

As a general rule you should dial in your espresso using a scale. The first three shots is normally indicating your espresso flow and the appearance of how well your espresso flow/brew.

Your first indicator should be the first drop appearing after activating starting the water flow (pump/bottom).

I recommend the first drop to appear approx. at 8-10 sec. In that way your espressoshot will brew as long a 26-31 sec. if it appears before 6 sec. I will recommend you should grind finer and vise versa if the first drop appears too late/after 11 sec or more.
This extraction will give you a more ristrettoét espresso and more intens.

This coffee is ideal to brew on Siphon, Chemex, Hario, Stagg fellow and December dripper Brew/ratio mass depends on how you pour the water, the weight of your coffee and the length of your brew. I like to recommend that you try to use different pouring techniques. So you will find out what will suit you and the coffee you have in your hands.

Step 1

Prefinfusion = Using water to wet the coffee, so the particle can absorb water, giving access to flavour and aromas. As a rule when you use less coffee, less water is used to preinfusion. "just enough to cover the coffee in the filter".

Step 2

Blooming = this is where the coffee particles is expanding, as any cellular products, giving access to transform the coffee attributes in to flavours and aromas. As a genius = less coffee/shorter blooming time. More Coffee/longer blooming time = that make sense right? Ie. 33 g of coffee = 30 sec blooming time. 60 g of coffee = 50-60 sec blooming time.

Step 3

Building up your coffee in the filter = you coffee brewing times length and letting you coffee steep in the filter. Coffee needs to be handled firm and homogenises.

Ie. Dont let your coffee set/sit or "dry out in the filter" when you pour the water in your coffee filter. Vise versa, you have to be careful, that you don't pour too much water, so you create a "swimming pool" on top of the coffee in the filter. The coffee should have a smooth "run through" contact time with water. You can find inspiration on brew guides