Every year around this time as we get near the end of our stocks of Central American coffee I repeatedly offer and remind my clients that excellent washed mild coffee(s) from the southern hemisphere are at their prime. Ask your salesperson for a sample or try a batch of bright, sweet, and balanced northern Peruvian coffee, your blends and brew will taste the better for it!

Peru was the first country that I had ever visited in my coffee trading career where I actually had to drive down to the coffee lands.  A point that I always fondly recall as I look at past photos of me in a winter wonderland that seems more fit for Lake Tahoe in winter than Peru in August!  With Peru being the largest producer of Fair Trade and Organic coffee in Latin America, if not the coffee growing world, Royal has a large and diverse group of exporters and cooperatives that we partner with to bring this well known origin to the roaster community.  One such group that we have grown with over the years is Cooparm.  I decided that it was time to learn a bit more about Cooparm so that Royal and the roasters that have been supporting this group could better understand how a mid-size cooperative manages to bring to market exceptional coffees. 

Cooparm, which is an acronym for Cooperativa de Productores Agropecuarios Rodriguez de Mendoza, has its central cooperative offices in the town of Mendoza. The closest airport to Mendoza is in the coastal town of Chiclayo. I could see from the map that there would most definitely be a drive involved in my journey to Mendoza. I learned of the concept of “Peruvian” hours over ten years ago on my first journey to this deceptively large South American country. Whenever I asked “cuantos horas mas” (how many more hours) the vague response was always “tres o cuatro horas Peruanas” (three or four Peruvian hours)! I’m still not certain of the formula but they are definitely more than 60 minutes. I knew full well having had a quick perusal of  the map of Peru that this current jaunt would have me reciting Robert Frost's famous line from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. What was to be a 13 hour journey ended up taking two days as we encountered an unexpected road closure between the towns of Bagua Grande and Pedro Ruiz. This unexpected turn of events  presented me with the opportunity to visit a coop located in Bagua Grande as well as the dry mill/processing center that the Bagua Grande coop uses for this service. Bagua Grande coop is one of the oldest cooperatives in northern Peru and they have had their share of challenging times. It ended up being quite an opportune moment to visit as the coop was having their monthly general assembly meeting.

After an impromptu visit in front of the assembly members we took a quick tour of the offices and the coffee lab (under construction). We then proceeded to the Rainforest Trading dry mill. We had the pleasure of an impromptu tour there and were invited to cup a few samples. Rainforest provides service for over a dozen groups and by the looks of the stuffed warehouse they seem to be well positioned in the dry-milling and export service segment of the market. It was on the cupping table that it became clear to me why Royal and I prefer to bring along Cooparm and other northern Peruvian cooperatives' coffees. The Bagua coop coffees seems to have the slightly “fruity” note that for me is not what I look for in northern Peruvian coffee. This “fruit” note in the coffee can be the result of many factors, but usually has something to do with the lack of thorough drying and perhaps an inconsistent moisture content of the parchment being received either in the main Coop warehouse or at the dry mill. It is not an unpleasant flavor experience but for me personally it does not exhibit the best qualities that strictly high grown Peruvian coffee(s) can have. We thanked our host for their time and for educating us about their coffee and cooperative and hit the now open road for a late night adventure drive to our destination for the evening, San Juan de la Frontera de los Chachapoyas.

After a sleepless evening in Chachapoyas that had me thinking that the local roosters are mad as they choose to crow at 3 am in the morning, we departed at dawn and arrived in Mendoza around 9 am. The central offices of Cooparm are very well organized. In addition to the management offices and the main warehouse for parchment gathering, the central offices also house a computer lab that provides training for all members and their children (one full time person), a credit union for paying out members on their coffee deliveries and extending credit to members in non-harvest time (three full time people), a technical assistance agronomist department that provides information, regional classes, and educational seminars for the 913 farmer members at the central office and in their communities (5 full time people).  This location also housed the roaster for Cooparm’s fledgling roasted coffee business and provides a meeting place for the various committeees (Women’s, Educational, Income Diversification, to name a few). They also had a stash of some export quality coffee that made a delicious cup that I was in dire need of! We headed out to visit the approximately 300 person town of Shucush. There are 36 registered Cooparm members in this town and I had the pleasure of meeting Jose Waldo Munoz Montano.This town also is the location of the Women’s Committee nursery.  Here, in addition to coffee, members can request seedlings of various plants and trees that can be grown and used for herbs, medicinal purposes, and shade. The highlight of the day for me was our main meal with Edilberto Saavedra and his son, Nilser Saavedra. This home cooked meal by Nilser all came from their land with the exception of the rice.

Edilberto is 80 years young and told me the secret to his longevity was knowing that each day there was work to be done on the farm. He was happy to meet the international buyers of his coffee that had come such a long way. I thought about the impact Royal, roasters, and the consumers who support Cooparm have had on keeping families involved in artisanal and diversified farming as I bounced along the “trocha” (dirt roads) back to Mendoza.

The following day we headed out to meet other members in various communities.  On this day we trekked (Peruvian hours unknown) to the town of Mashuyaco and visited and stayed in the community of Nuevo Chirimoto. I was beginning to understand that as a visitor I was also performing an important function for the central coop. Giving the producers the opportunity to engage the importers and roasters about where their product goes and how it is marketed gives them a renewed sense of satisfaction. This evening as we stayed out in the community and I really felt that I was in the wild west of the coffee growing world. This town of almost 1000 people which had no electricity, a 10 PM curfew, and no sheriff, was what I envision the early traders stumbled upon when they visited places like Antigua in the early 20^th Century.  That evening as we walked in the dark from the center of town back towards Cooparm's meeting hall I asked where we were planning on sleeping. After a few knocks on town members' doors we all ended up with a bed for the evening.  It was the first time on the journey that I felt the presence of the United States as my room for the evening was decorated with posters of one our greatest exports, Hannah Montana.  It’s a small world after all.

The next day we departed as usual very early and made our way back towards Mendoza. On our journey home we stopped to visit with a producer and his wife. Tafur Pinedo and his wife Isabel Colorado who told us firsthand how being a member of Cooparm has allowed them to make a better life for themselves and their family. Tafur explained that being able to borrow around $500 per hectare at low interest allowed him to maintain his equipment, invest in organic inputs and improve his yields.  We enjoyed a cup of coffee that they home roasted artisan style.

On our last day we had the opportunity to meet with the representatives of each of the 38 communities that deliver coffee parchment to the main cooperative. It was very informative to be included in this type of group meeting as I was able to see how the decision making process functioned in this organization. One of the most emotional moments of the journey came when a female delegate explained to me and the guests at this meeting that she was very grateful to Cooparm for making her realize that she is a valuable asset to her family, community, and cooperative. This was accomplished by the efforts of the coop through many of the services and programs that are offered to members in good standing. The women’s committee which had taught her to care for her family better, the educational fund which had sponsored her children’s education, and the computer lab which had empowered her to learn about other opportunities and to better understand her challenges and the tools to face them.   

I left Mendoza encouraged by my experiences and by the level of seriousness that Cooparm’s management displays in approaching any question, thought, or idea a producer member shares. As the most established cooperative in Rodrigo de Mendoza, accounting for about 30% of the departments' coffee exports, they realize that to better serve their members and to keep the multinationals at bay they must pay better prices, provide better services, and remind the producers that by working together, collectively, they can protect the cultural and historical lessons of these beautiful northern Peruvian valleys.