Release #26: Ciriaco Quispe 2017

Ciriaco Quispe is a member of the Inambari Cooperative, one of the top cooperatives in all of Peru. All of the members of this cooperative are small in terms of landholding, with an average farm size of 2.5 hectares. The coffee is often picked by the farmers themselves. If more hands are needed for harvesting, neighbors are sometimes employed. Coffee is depulped using hand cranked machines, fermented in concrete tanks and washed in the same tanks. Similar to Colombia, the harvest season can be rainy in this part of Peru, so parabolic (raised, covered) beds are employed for drying.

Ciriaco has less than one hectare of land. His farm is at a staggering 1,850 meters above sea level and he has planted a healthy mix of Bourbon and Caturra plants. In the cup it has everything one wants and expects from a good Peruvian coffee: chocolate notes, medium-plus sweetness, and loads of body. But, it also has a lot you don't expect from a Peruvian coffee, such as incredibly complex fruited acidity. It's not a bright, in-your-face acidity, but a prismatic, shifting, backbone type of acidity. Flavors shift from mango and dried papaya, through complex berries (red and black) and low oxidation oolong tea, over a sturdy base of milk chocolate, caramel and wafer cookies.

Among many outstanding coffees from this remarkable coffee producer that Passenger has had the honor of roasting over the years, this particular selection from the 2016-17 harvest just might be the finest. After a long and peaceful repose in the freezer, we are proud to share one final taste of this lovely field blend at the present time.