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Peru Cafe
Peru Cafe is a boutique coffee roaster based in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Peru Café sells organic and fairly traded coffee sourced primarily from Peru and roasted in New Zealand. Peru Café owns the two brands Inca-Fe and Icoco, while also acting as the exclusive New Zealand distributor of VFA espresso machines. Peru Café also sells merchandise such as T-shirts and bio-degradable cups. Products are available online or in New Zealand supermarkets such as New World and specialty organic and deli stores.
History
Peru Café was established in New Plymouth in 2007 by Peruvian director Carmen Castro, her husband Joop Verbeek and partner Jamie Hodson, a long-time pioneer of the New Zealand roasting industry.
When Peru Café’s founders were looking for a source of quality organic coffee beans, environmental considerations along with Fairtrade values were uppermost in their minds. The founders did not take long to decide that Carmen’s native country was the perfect location to combine these values and turn their passion for coffee into a truly sustainable business model from farm to cup.
Through the brand Inca-Fe, Peru Café began supplying their organic coffee to cafés, businesses, individuals and organic and specialty deli stores in the North Island of New Zealand. Inca-Fe is now entering supermarkets throughout New Zealand, and they are rapidly expanding into export markets in Australia and South East Asia.
In 2008, Peru Café added another New Zealand brand, Icoco, to their offerings. An established roaster since 1998, Icoco roasts coffee from its Auckland based with beans originating from Papua New Guinea to the African mountains. Today Icoco coffee can be found around New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Rarotonga and Australia.
Peru
Peru is a large country, the third largest in South America. It stretches from 0 -18 degrees south of the equator along the Andes on the western side of South America. It is almost 2,200 km long, similar in length to the entire west coast of the United States. The Amazon River originates in the highlands of Peru. Peru has a long history of human civilization and was the centre of the mighty Inca Empire, famous for their buildings and trails all over the country and beyond.
The Inca culture was famous for their highly sophisticated agricultural system that produced yields per acre that can still hardly be surpassed with modern technology and crops.
Coffee was introduced by the Spanish settlers during colonial times and is mainly grown on the eastern slopes of the Andes between 800 – 2200m altitude where perfect growing conditions exist. The relative steady temperate tropical climate allows the coffee cherries to ripen slowly, developing their full flavours.
Due to difficult access to these areas, coffee remained a relatively small commercial crop… for a long time. Many other coffee producing countries have moved to using higher yielding hybrid varietals like catimor, caturra and catuai. But because of the late commercialization of the Peruvian coffee market, Peru retained a large percentage of the older heirloom varietals, typica and bourbon: resulting in the unique flavours of Peruvian beans.
Harvest in Peru is approximately May to September with the best time being June to July. It is during this time that Inca-Fe typically travels to Peru each year to buy coffee direct from the farmers or co-ops to forge strong relationships with our growers and help them produce quality coffee though organic growing practices and new improved processing techniques.
Coffee
Source
Growers in Peru are genuinely committed to producing high-quality coffee. Consequently, Peruvian coffee beans are highly sought after by specialty buyers throughout the world and Peru is one of the main sources for organic coffee.
Much of the coffee from Peru is still produced by poor, small-scale farmers who benefit from fairly traded coffee. The relatively small premiums allow farmers to invest in quality rather than producing run-of-the-mill coffee demanded by the big producers and the higher quality itself demands a higher price by boutique roasters like Peru Café.
Not all Peru Café blends are 100% Peruvian. High-end beans from areas such as Ethiopia and Sumatra are also used to create different flavours, especially in espresso blends.
Roasting
(photo of beans roasting, Jamie & bags of Inca-Fe coffee) Roasting is an intricate process involving monitoring and logging all roasts including humidity levels, air flow, gas flow, roast times and roast temperatures to ensure consistency.
Founding roaster Jamie Hodson trained with Willem Boot in San Francisco and spent time with Andi Trundle of the Organic Trade Association Coffee Council Steering Committee. With 10 years of roasting experience, Jamie created the Inca-Fe flavours of Inca-Gold (a sweet full-bodied blend with wine-toned fruit notes and dark chocolate and an amazing aftertaste), Inca Decaf (a rich full-bodied decaffeinated coffee with sweet nut and fruity notes and mild acidity) and Siesta (a lively complex of 100% Peruvian blend, chocolate and raisin tones with a great finish). Jamie has not only touched the taste buds of people around the world with his blends, but the hearts of those fortunate enough to know him.
Organics
General
(photo of organic farm) Peru Café’s use of organic farming co-operatives ties in with the company’s Fairtrade ethos, as these farms provide more work for employees year-round, not just at harvest time. This has huge spin-offs in terms of the quality of coffee. Organic coffee is not subject to growth spurts, brought on by conventional fertilisers, which produces inconsistent quality in the bean. And the organically grown beans are much higher in anti-oxidants.
Climate
(BioGro/IFOAM logo) All Inca-Fe coffee is BioGro/IFOAM organic certified which means high quality coffee through traditional farming methods. Peru Café was the first roaster in New Zealand dedicated to processing only certified organic coffee.
Organic coffee from Peru is ‘shade-grown’, meaning original native trees remain in place or new trees are planted. The resulting canopy protects the coffee plants from direct sunlight, rainfall, wind and excessive evaporation, thereby creating a more stable microclimate.
At the same time the trees attract a balance of different species of birds and insects, negating the need for pesticides. The trees absorb nutrients from deeper in the soil and deposit them in the form of leaves and fruits, providing continuous fertilization of the coffee plants with their shallower roots.
The preservation of trees in and around the Amazon is of great importance to world climate. The Amazon area is considered to be the single biggest regulator of global climate.
Quality
(photo of good beans) Organic farming directly results in the quality taste associated with organic coffee and in higher anti-oxidants than non-organic.
Non-organic coffee often results in the use of conventional fertilizers (which can produce inconsistent quality in the bean, especially if combined with irregular heavy rainfall, like currently being experienced all over the world) and is in general one of the heaviest sprayed crops.
Dioxin-like compounds used in pesticides like DDT do not break down in the roasting process. Because coffee is usually not ingested directly, food safety standards are relatively non-existent for coffee. This provides the opportunity for farmers to use strong chemicals which are not only detrimental to your health, but to the environment as well.
Social Economic Impact
(photo of school) In most countries where coffee is grown, there is very high unemployment. Organic farms help ease that burden by providing year-round and stable employment opportunities. The farms are labour-intensive, requiring terracing to be maintained, compost to be applied and manual clearing of undergrowth. Organic farming requires roughly double the amount of manual labour as compared to non-organic.
The fact that there are more year-round work means that workers can establish a permanent abode and that schooling for children can be organised.
Setting up a professional organic organisation takes a lot of investment and most farmers that Peru Café have spoken to do so out of principle. They view looking after their environment as looking after their people and preserving the land as not only a means of crop creation, but of daily food generation.
They see organic farming as an intellectual and professional challenge, requiring in-depth understanding of various biological aspects and the interaction of organisms and substances on the plantation.
So the social-economic impact of organics is indeed profound as consumers choose to support organic companies in their quest for quality and sustainability.
Fairtrade
Peru Café believes that Fairtrade is a great benchmark. Around 75% of Peru Café coffee is Fairtrade certified. Fairtrade has only limited criteria that do not work for all of their suppliers. Peru Café does not discriminate against those who are not certified, if they think that they meet Peru Café’s subjective criteria, which allows them to receive a fairly traded price. Criteria include management, production, member satisfaction, community outreach and overall sustainability.
Peru Café growers provide mostly year around work as the organic farms require constant maintenance. Other farmers provide work mainly during the harvest and in many cases deduct 30% for housing. So their pickers are contracted for the harvest and then need to find work and a home elsewhere.
Peru Café believes that happy workers produce quality coffee. They are aligned with the farmer’s objectives and look after the plants and pick ripe and undamaged cherries which help the prevention of taste defects. Ripe cherries produce a sweeter coffee.
Certifications
Peru Café goes all-out to make coffee that you’ll not only fall in love with, but feel good knowing that you’re supporting a company dedicated to sustainable practices.
Peru Café believes in certification, and in meaningful certification. The following are certifications they support and possess.
All coffee is BioGro/IFOAM certified.
Around 75% of coffee is Fairtrade certified and they in the process of converting our remaining suppliers to this certification. Peru Café is a Fairtrade certified coffee importer.
Peru Café is in the process of obtaining carboNZero certification. By importing coffee themselves they try to absorb certification costs and premiums.
BioGro Organic
(logo) BioGro is New Zealand's leading organic certification agency certifying over 900 operations across New Zealand and trade marking more than $100 million worth of product every year. BioGro is one of just 30 international organic certification agencies accredited by the International Federation of Organic Agricultrue Movements (IFOAM), which represents the best in international organic standards. The BioGro brand is synonymous with integrity, leadership, trust and quality service.
Fairtrade
(logo) "[Fairtrade certification][1]" Fairtrade certification guarantees not only fair prices, but also the principles of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_purchasing" "Ethical purchasing". These principles include banning child and "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_labour" "Slave labour", adherence to the "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations" "United Nations" charter of "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights" "Human rights", a fair price that covers the cost of production and facilitates social development, and protection and conservation of the environment. The Fairtrade certification system also promotes long-term business relationships between buyers and sellers, crop pre-financing (which allows farmers to avoid underselling due to cash-flow) and greater transparency throughout the supply chain.
OANZ
(logo) Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) is an incorporated society providing leadership, coordination and strategy across the organic sector. Members have organics at their core activity and must demonstrate a commitment to produce food of high quality, consider the wider social and ecological impact of their actions, minimise all forms of pollution, allow everyone involved a quality life which meets their basic needs and to progress toward an entire production, processing and distribution chain which is both socially just and ecologically responsible.
carboNZero
(logo) carboNZero certification means commitment to reduce emissions at the source. Companies must demonstrate continuous improvement and dedication towards energy efficiency. carboNZero certified companies are committed to maintaining and enhancing New Zealand's environment through reducing the demand for more electricity generation from fossil fuel and renewable sources, supporting energy efficiency initiatives and regeneration of indigenous forest landscapes.
External Links
Inca-Fe Official Website [2]
Icoco Official Website [3]
Fairtrade Official Website [4]
OANZ Official Website [5]
CarboNZero Official Website [6]
