Sweet & Funky - David Chilcon, Peru, El Diamanté

Taste notes: Raspberry jam, chocolate, almonds, passion fruit and toffee

David Flores Chilcon is the owner of 2 hectares of coffee planted in the El Diamante area of the San Jose de Lourdes district. David and his family pick and process their coffee together and dry it in a communal drying tent. The main variety the family grows is Caturra, but they have also planted Pache and Geisha.

David competed in the Cup of Excellence in 2018 with a Caturra lot and placed 20th. He picks, processes, and dries his coffee before bringing it to the Falcon warehouse in Jaen, where it is graded and stored before export. After harvest, David rests the cherries overnight. The next day, he depulps and ferments them for 24 hours. After fermentation, he washes the parchment and dries it on raised beds for 12-16 days. San Jose de Lourdes has a very distinct climate compared to the other districts in Jaen and San Ignacio. It is much cooler and has higher rainfall, which contributes to a unique cup profile with lots of citrus and a rare buttery characteristic.

Even though there is a lot of potential for quality, San Jose de Lourdes is very isolated since it is far from the city of Jaen. This means that the logistics of delivering coffee to Jaen are challenging. Many producers sell locally at very low prices and have little to invest back into their farms. As a result, production is very low, and coffee quality is highly variable since producers lack knowledge and infrastructure.