Julio Chávez

The cherries are harvested by hand and floated to remove unripe or damaged fruit before pulping. The pulp ferments without water, in its own mucilage, for 72 hours: the cool climate and morning shade in the area keep this dry fermentation stable and reduce the impact of wastewater on the environment.

After fermentation, the coffee is washed and dried on raised beds, where it is turned 5 to 6 times a day; for this batch, drying took 14 days—slightly longer than the 10 to 12 days typical at the cooperative—until the moisture content reached between 10 and 11.5%.

Once drying is complete, the parchment is transported to the headquarters of the Incahuasi Cooperative in Andahuaylas, at an elevation of over 2,800 MASL, where it is tasted and graded under cool, stable conditions prior to export.

Julio Chávez is one of the most experienced producers at the Incahuasi Cooperative: every year, he refines the processing of his Geisha lots a little more, adding greater nuance and complexity through excellent fermentation control, while never compromising the coffee’s clean profile in the cup. That attention to detail earned him second place in the 2022 Peru Cup of Excellence and has made Julio a leading figure within the cooperative, where his processing methods are shared and discussed among the other farmers. He farms at Finca San Sebastián, a plot of just 1.25 hectares, in Amaybamba, within the Incahuasi Valley.

The Incahuasi Cooperative brings together producers from this area in southwestern Cusco—one of the most remote and highest-altitude regions in the country—with a dry, stable climate that delays the harvest well into the year: it begins in September and lasts through December. Its members share a common Inca heritage and keep two traditions of community work alive: the Minka, for the maintenance of shared infrastructure, and the Ayni, the daily collaboration among farmers that has refined the craft from generation to generation.

The variety Julio grows is known locally as Geisha Inca, the name given to SL9, a selection of Ethiopian origin that has been mutating in the area for decades and was long neglected due to its low yield. Today, thanks to increasingly expert cultivation practices, it is planted at higher altitudes and is beginning to yield outstanding results in the cup. This is also the first year we’ve worked with Julio Chávez, whose traceability—from farm to cup—we manage in partnership with APU Coffee Traceability Peru, one of our partners in the country.