Producer: Juan Quilla Laura
Pacayzuiso, Alto Inambari, Sandia, Puno, Peru
Altitude: 1800 MASL
Process: Washed
Varietal: Bourbon
Tasting Notes: Baked Apple, Black Tea, Wildflower Honey
Best Brewed As: Drip, French Press, Pourover, Espresso
About the Producer:
Juan Quilla Laura was born in the high mountains of the Quilcapuncu region in Puno, Peru. His journey with coffee began in 1984, working as a day laborer for other producers. Through this hands-on work, he mastered the fundamentals of cultivation and processing.
Eventually, Juan moved to Pacayzulso to establish his own home and farm. His early years as an independent producer were marked by significant hardship as he and his family struggled to afford basic necessities. A turning point came through a United Nations project donation, which provided him with disease-resistant, high-yielding seeds that stabilized his production and improved his livelihood.
About the Farm: Finca Quillabamba
For the past eight years, Juan has operated Finca Quillabamba. The farm is dedicated to the Bourbon variety of coffee, which thrives on two hectares of land. To ensure healthy growth and easy maintenance, the trees are planted with a specific spacing of meters. The farm represents Juan’s transition from a laborer to a landowner, focused on quality and sustainable yields in the Puno region.
About the Process
The processing at Finca Quillabamba is meticulous, focusing on cleanliness and precision:
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Harvest & Fermentation: Only ripe cherries are picked. They undergo a wet fermentation process, submerged in water for 18 to 20 hours.
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Environmental Care: To protect the local ecosystem, all wastewater from the processing is treated in sedimentation wells.
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Drying: The washed parchment coffee is placed on raised beds inside a parabolic dryer. This protected environment allows the coffee to dry slowly and evenly over 10 to 12 days.
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Quality Control: Juan determines the ideal dryness through sensory evaluation and color—aiming for a specific blue-green hue—or by using tools like the "tooth test" before the beans are sent to the dry mill.