Chirinos is another coffee you won’t see on our menu for the first time. Again this year, it is a very delicious coffee that is perfect for everyday sipping.
The Farm / Washing station:
This special lot combines microlots from six producers from across the Chirinos region: Alindor Mirez, Celia Santos, Diaz Perez, Alejandria Cesar, Salvador Efrain and MiKan Coffee. These producers, whose farms are located between 1,750 and 1,900 metres above sea level, grow popular varieties such as caturra, catuai, castillo and typica. The cherries are hand-picked by the farmers and their families before processing and drying.
The district of Chirinos, located in the province of San Ignacio, is famous for its exceptional Peruvian coffee. With new roads and a thriving town that serves as a centre for the coffee trade, Chirinos is well connected to surrounding towns. While cooperatives have been promoting quality for years, many independent producers still lack market access and support to improve quality. In many villages with ideal high-altitude conditions, small investments could help producers avoid low market prices and earn a premium for their coffee. In Chirinos, we see huge potential for improving quality and in connecting producers growing choice coffee.
Variety:
Catuai is a cross between the highly productive Mundo Novo and the compact Caturra variety, developed at the Instituto Agronomico (IAC) in Brazil. The plant is highly productive, partly due to its small size, which allows the plants to be close together; it can be planted at almost double the density. The shape of the plant makes it relatively easy to treat for pests and diseases. It is particularly characterised by its great vigour and low height. It is very susceptible to coffee leaf rust. Today it is considered a variety with good, but not great, cup quality.
Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon. It was discovered on a plantation in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil sometime between 1915 and 1918. Caturra has a mutation in one gene that causes the plant to grow smaller (called dwarf/compact). After the discovery of Caturra, selection was carried out at the Instituto Agronomico (IAC) in Brazil from 1937. The breeders were interested in the small size of the variety, which allows the plants to be placed closer together, and in its closely spaced secondary branches, which allow more fruit to be produced in the same space. For decades it was one of the most economically important coffees in Central America, so much so that it was often used (and sometimes still is) as a ‘benchmark’ against which new varieties are tested. The only disadvantage of this variety is that it is susceptible to disease, especially coffee leaf rust. It is similar to Bourbon in sweetness, balanced and slightly citrusy.
Together with Bourbon, Typica is genetically one of the most important and indigenous varieties originating in southwestern Ethiopia. Sometime in the 15th or 16th century it was transported with Bourbon to Yemen. Unlike Bourbon, which did not leave Bourbon Island (Reunion) until the mid-19th century, Typica had a more difficult journey. At the end of the 17th century and during the 18th century, it moved from Yemen to India, then to Java and finally to Holland, from which it was spread to Central America. Typica is a tall plant with very low production, susceptibility to disease and good cup quality. Because of these factors, it was gradually replaced in most American countries It is still widely grown in Peru, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, where it is called Jamaica Blue Mountain.
Processing:
It all starts with the picking of ripe cherries. They are then cleaned of impurities and bad beans (flotes), then fermented for 24 hours and finally washed and dried.
Our baristas notes:
Espresso:
Chirinos behaves beautifully stable on espresso. The best espresso we had was at ratio 1 : 2.05 at times between 25 and 28 seconds. At faster times the coffee had a slightly higher acidity similar to cherry jam and blackberry. At slightly longer times on the other hand it comes higher sweetness more similar to cherry and vanilla. The flavour of good quality dark chocolate dominates in all the extractions and remains in the mouth in the mouth. We didn´t change the recipe for milk. The coffee is beautifully creamy and sweet and reminds us the taste of toffee.
Filter:
On the filter the coffee flows a little faster than the classic washed coffee. Specifically we ground it 3 clicks faster on the comandante than the classic. The total time using 20 grams and 280ml of coffee for 4 brews was 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The coffee is beautifully sweet and dominated by notes of apple and sweet cherry jam. It has a very tea-like character where it is reminiscent of red tea. There are very pleasant notes of chocolate in the finish.
