To ask oneself which coffee should be ingested tomorrow morning is a silly question with a single answer; our new Peru La Fortuna.
As one coffee growing season ends and another begins, we present our newest coffee, Peru La Fortuna. The coffee comes from a Peruvian microlot in the San Ignacio province, which touches the southern border of Ecuador and is approximately 150 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.
La Fortuna is a five hectare farm run by Marcial Diaz Olivera, his wife Vilma Diaz Mego, and their three children. This family, along with many other microlot owners in Peru, have worked diligently to produce these exceptional coffees to put Peru on the specialty coffee map. Cafe Imports’ inventory of Peruvian Coffees has more than doubled since their first purchase in 2014 and will continue to rise in following years as these farmers continue to pursue excellence and work out the kinks of exporting their product.
La Fortuna is only the second coffee from Peru that we have had the pleasure of roasting and serving to those who love what we do. This particular crop is fully washed and of the yellow caturra varietal. For those that remember, we had a small allotment of a delicious Peru from Cafe Imports Aces Program 18 months ago that is of similar terroir. We even took this coffee with us to the 2015 US Brewers Cup in Long Beach. This time, La Fortuna was personally selected on a cupping table at Sump amongst many other killer coffees (stay tuned to the blog on the ins and outs of the selection process). This coffee stuck out to us because of its lush body, balanced acidity, and bangin’ complexity. So complex it even stumped the daily tasting notes team for a minute. What amazes me personally is the brightness that comes out of this coffee. So many different types of citrus, it cannot be explicitly defined. As this coffee develops after roasting, I’ve found that I get more sweet vanilla, chocolate, and a subtle stone fruit.
Image of Yellow Caturra varietal from Café Imports website
When brewing this coffee at home, I strongly recommend the v60 and Aeropress. For the v60, I recommend using a grind setting that finishes the brewing at 2:10-2:15 minutes. Any longer and the coffee loses acidity and becomes astringent. I also recommend starting with the golden Sump ratio (25 grams coffee, 350 grams water) and adjusting according to taste. For the Aeropress, I found it tastes best with a finer grind than the v60 grind, and a 40 second press starting at 1:40.
In the shop we have already succeeded at turning this coffee into a tasty espresso as well. Traditionally we use a 1.5:1 water to coffee ratio for our espressos, but for this coffee I have found using slightly more water (1.6:1) brings out a cherry-like sweetness not found in the brew, making it a balanced espresso that can stand alone or with milk. Historically our coffee has been thought of as too difficult to dial in and pull consistent shots of (which is total bogus) but I can assure that this coffee will taste great for numerous different extractions on many different machines – yes, even you Capresso users.
I am sure wherever this coffee gets sent, whether it be down the street or across the globe, everyone who appreciates our style of coffee will enjoy La Fortuna.
