Peru - Los Tulipanes (2026)

We've partnered with the team at Cultivar Coffees as we've expanded our sourcing in Peru. This is our fourth harvest together and the culmination of five years working to build a strong, stable supply network focused on sustainable coffee production.

Historically coffees from Peru have been associated with bulk commercial blends, even after the rise of cooperative-style production oriented around smallholder growers. The common national practice of processing and drying coffee on the farm should allow for highly effective lot separation, but infrastructure and economics still reinforce the traditional system of selling coffee to an association or coop who will then bulk lots according to flavor profile or certification status. A growing number of quality and traceability minded exporters are changing this paradigm through small-lot separation, a change we see as very positive for specialty production given the incredible, often overlooked diversity of flavor profiles possible across Peru's several major coffee regions.

Los Tulipanes is a honey processed coffee produced by the team at Cultivar using early-season deliveries (of ripe fruit, not parchment!) from some of their partner farms. Named for Calle Los Tulipanes, where Cultivar's Jaén warehouse is located, it consists of coffees from two different communities, processed individually with similar fermentation strategies, then combined afterwards.

The first of these two components is from the community of Callayuc in Cutervo, a province known for its diverse microclimates including cloud forests, moorland, and dry forests. Several producers contributed to this lot which was processed with an elaborate fermentation schedule: the coffee was fermented for 24 hours in sealed plastic bags with the entire fruit still intact, then depulped, then fermented for another 48 hours in sealed plastic bags with only the mucilage layer still intact. Then the coffee was removed from the bags and spread in a layer two inches thick for 72 hours to continue fermentation with more exposure to air. Finally, it was moved to tarps to dry for 14 days under limited hours to avoid peak sun.

The other component, from the district of Huabal in Jaén Province, was grown by brothers Segundo and Levi Alarcón. Their farms, both in the community of La Unión, contain coffee intercropped with legumes and fruit trees like banana, guava, mango, and orange, creating a diverse agroecosystem that is inviting to local fauna. Once delivered, their coffee was also held for 24 hours in sealed plastic bags, depulped, and then returned to bags for another 60 hours. Afterwards the coffee was removed from the bags and spread in a two-inch-thick layer for 96 hours to continue fermentation with some exposure to air. Then it was moved to tarps to dry for 14 days under limited sunlight hours.

Though highly detailed and very precise, this approach broadly describes a honey processed coffee - in which the outermost layer of fruit was removed, but the layer of sugary mucilage underneath was allowed to remain intact through drying. Allowing the coffee additional time to ferment in sealed bags essentially creates a hypoxic fermentation environment - where some ambient oxygen is present, but not much. Coffees processed in this way often show differences in perceived acidity, sweetness, and body, with a tendency towards a ripe, juicy fruit character instead of citric and malic qualities.

We first tasted this coffee last year as an experimental batch - though commonplace in other countries, it is still rare in Peru to transact coffee as freshly harvested fruit (versus processed and dried parchment). After visiting Cultivar's Jaén warehouse this harvest and seeing their finite space firsthand, we're all the more impressed with what they've been able to pull off with this coffee. We're excited to offer Los Tulipanes for a second year and thrilled about another successful harvest working with this incredible, ambitious team.