November Featured Coffee: Peru Pangoa
From San Martin de Pangoa, Peru
Just east of the Andes, in the central Amazon region of Peru, lies Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa. It was founded in 1977 by 50 members, it is now made up of approximately 700 farmers. Read on to find out more about this cooperative and check out photos from last years' visit. We hope you enjoy this coffee which is full-bodied with notes of toasted nuts and baker's chocolate.
Fast Facts:
Location – Pangoa – Junin (250 km East of Lima in Central Amazon Region)
Elevation – 1000-2000 meters above sea level
Coffee varieties – Caturra, Typica, Bourbon, Pache
Diversification – cacao, honey, fruit trees, roasted coffee, ecotourism
Average farm size – 5 Hectares per member average
We visited Pangoa a little over a year ago and were able to see first hand just how inspiring they are. Over the years they've come a long way. They survived the loss of hundreds of farmers who had to flee to cities to escape the violence during the 1980s, and have since strengthened their cooperative, providing immense support to their members. The majority of their members have been able to switch over to Organic or are in transition, and after receiving Fair Trade certification in 2001, they set up both an Educational Fund and a Health Services Fund.
They've since expanded their Fair Trade premium project list to include tree renovation, improving their members’ living standards, developing individual wet processing plants and sun setting over central drying patio drying stations, and covering the funerary costs of any members. With these extra funding projects, Pangoa hopes to better, and more broadly, meet the needs of its members.
Above: Pangoa's quality control technician, Wilder, roasting samples.