Peru is a country with a rich and sometimes very turbulent history, and Peruvian coffee is a big part of that journey. Since the 1700s, coffee has been grown throughout Peru, from the Amazon basin to the Andean mountains and the Pacific Coastline. It is currently the world's 9th largest producer of coffee, but it is only the 3rd largest exporter in South America and ranks 5th in the world.
When coffee first arrived in Peru in the 1700s, the global market was not particularly large, and most coffees were grown for local consumption. However, in the 1800s, when disease affected the growth of coffee beans in places like Indonesia and the surrounding countries, the coffee supply in Europe was disrupted. As European countries started looking for alternative sources, they discovered coffee from Peru. In the years since, coffee production became an essential part of the economy in Peru and many people now rely on the coffee industry to support their families.
When England accepted over 2 million hectares of land in place of an unpaid loan, they established a large number of farms and drastically increased the production of coffee in the country. However, when this land was sold off during the world wars, the coffee production in Peru was damaged, particularly as exportation was made far more difficult.
There are still a lot of issues with the farming of coffee from Peru. The average lifestyle of a coffee farmer is difficult, and most only have a small landholding of a few hectares. These farms are usually very far from developed areas.
However, the situation has changed for the better in recent years as the popularity of organic coffee has grown. Investment into more organic farms and fair trade networks improves the lives of coffee farmers and produces more amazing organic coffee. In fact, Peru is now known as one of the main producers of fair trade organic coffee globally. There are currently over 100,000 farmers growing coffee in Peru, and the country is fast becoming as well-respected as coffee-growing countries like Brazil and Columbia.
There is also a drive to provide fair pay and working conditions to women working in the coffee industry in Peru. In 2003, the Cafe Feminino initiative was set up to address the issue of women trapped in poverty in male-dominated environments where they have very little control over their own finances. A group of women set up their own coffee growing operation separate from the male-owned ones and they have been protecting the rights of female coffee farmers ever since. We regularly buy coffee from the Peru Cafe Femenino project.
Although Peru is still recovering from a rust infestation in 2014 that damaged their coffee-growing industry, there are still 855,000 jobs created in areas that would otherwise be very impoverished.
Nearly all Peru coffee is Arabica with a large amount of Typical varietal. Many producers now grow other varietals, and a strong emphasis has been placed on replacing old trees with varietals that offer good disease resistance and high yields.
