To get to Gilmer’s farm you have to drive up a mountain, and then another one, and one more, and finally, nestled deep in the rolling Andes Mountain range, you will find the seven hectare Finca Ecologica. Never mind the two days of air travel it takes to get to the small but somehow sprawling coffee city of Jaen. The farm is about a three hour drive up and down a slim dirt road from Jaen. There is barely room for two cars to pass, and often times one car has to back up so the other car can squeeze by. Not for the faint of heart. Don’t look down.
Just when you think you are in the middle of nowhere a small town appears with a church, a school, and several little corner stores. These small communities are the heart and soul of Peruvian coffee. In between the mountain towns of San Francisco and Agua Colorado lies the farm.
Seven hectares of steep terrain with four hectares dedicated to growing coffee. The coffee aspect of the farm is mostly a mix of Bourbon and Yellow Caturra varieties. The trees are neatly spaced 3 to 4 feet apart in succinct rows.
After hiking up a little bit, you can turn around the see the expansive valley below. As if Pachamama created it herself. It is a stunning place, with different shades of green and big hills everywhere. It feels ancient, wild, and almost mystical. Above the farm is a steep, dense forest that has been designated as a conservation area, it's so dense it looks ominous yet beautiful. Uninviting yet appealing all at the same time. I'm told there is a lot of wildlife up there, I’ll take Gilmer’s word for it. In this far off place, is where Gilmer and his family live. Following the spirit of Pachamama, they give thanks to the land and grow great coffee.
We first visited Gilmer and his family in 2017. Now in our 6th year buying his coffee, we have seen some exciting changes to the farm. The Cordova-Mejias recently got electricity installed at the house this past year. Operated entirely by his family, Finca Ecologica is a family affair. His father, mother, and three siblings live in a modest wood house next to the farm. His youngest sister, Mily comes out to shake my hand, beaming a big smile, she is excited we are here. She wants to be a barista in the States. She has gotten a lot bigger from the last time I was there. Like in 2019, his mom prepared lunch for the day. Using a wood fired oven, she has prepared chicken (from the farm of course), yuca, and rice in a chicken-ginger based broth. To be invited into this little window of their life feels special. The open air kitchen and the bathrooms are recent additions. Clearly a result of some of the previous years coffee harvest income. French Truck plays a part in that. We buy anywhere from 60% to 90% of their annual harvest. This year we are buying close to 100%.
The family handles all aspects of the coffee farm. From the picking to the processing. During harvest season that basically entails working day and night. Coffee waits for no one. Next to the house is the necessary processing equipment to float-sort, depulp, ferment, wash, and dry the freshly picked coffee cherries. They use the skin of the cherries to make compost, which then makes for nitrogen rich soil, to be reused for the coffee plants. The smell of these overripe cherries is one you don't forget. After a while, you get used to it. There is a light rain for most of the day, on our visit. The farm is wet and, damp and it enhances the already potent compost smell. Life on the farm.
The town of Jaen is a classic coffee town. It sits in a dry flat portion of land with mountains all around it. This warmer climate along with the flat topography makes for good conditions to dry coffee. As the mountains can be too steep. Coffee picked up in the hills is constantly flowing down the mountain to get delivered to warehouses in town. In all manner of vehicles, from trucks to vans to motorbikes, to even the occasional donkey. In town, it is stored and prepared for transport to the nearest port. It is estimated that 70-80% of the economy in Jaen is centered around coffee. When you drive around town during harvest you will see warehouse after warehouse packed with coffee. Along the outskirts of town sit lush rice fields, and as you begin to descend into the hills, those rice farms become cacao farms, and then slowly they become coffee farms.
Since our last visit in 2019, Gilmer has added several more raised beds to dry the coffee. This is crucial as it allows them to process more coffee at one time, which ensures all the ripe cherries that were picked will get processed in sufficient time. Once the ripe cherries are picked, they rest for 10-12 hours before being deplulped. So if cherries are picked in the afternoon, they must be processed in the middle of the night. After the cherries are depulped they are then fermented for up to 70 hours, without water, in the tank on their property. It is then washed and dried on raised beds in a covered environment. This allows you to control the temperature of the drying. Typically it takes about 25 days to dry. They turn the coffee 2-3 times a day, for even drying. If this crucial step is not performed the coffee might develop a fungus that would taint its flavor. Long and slow drying times at this altitude allow for better cup scores and the sugars are more concentrated and more consistent.
