Mareyla Fernandez / Peru

We first visited Peru in the autumn of 2024. Since then, we have been working with several producers from Colasay, a region in northern Peru. In fact, all of those coffees come from the Fernandez family. There is Yonal, the older brother, Merci, the younger sister, and this time we are introducing Mareyla, their cousin.

Her farm, La Golondrina, is located in a small village called La Higuera within the Colasay district. A number of small-scale producers grow coffee in this area, and Mareyla is one of them. She is part of a producer group called Comité La Higuera.

Comité is a structure practiced by the exporter Origin Coffee Lab, or OCL. Around 200 producers are organized into 17 committees, allowing them to address cultivation and quality challenges collectively. OCL pays producers premiums based on quality and continues to purchase coffee at prices significantly above the market rate.

In this region, there is still a tradition called “minga,” where neighboring farms help one another during the harvest season. “Today for you, tomorrow for me.” It feels like a piece of wisdom that helps small family farms get through the labor-intensive harvest period.

Colasay is one of the 12 districts that make up Jaén Province in the Cajamarca region. It covers approximately 736 km² and has a population of around 10,000 people. The main settlement sits at an altitude of 1,775 meters, while coffee farms spread across elevations of roughly 1,800 to 2,200 meters.

This area lies within a band of cloud forest known as the “Ceja de Selva,” meaning the “eyebrow of the jungle,” where the eastern slopes of the Andes descend toward the Amazonian lowlands. Along the southern edge of the district flows the Chamaya River, whose waters eventually join the Marañón River, one of the headwaters of the Amazon. It is said that paved roads did not reach Colasay until the mid-2000s, and this isolation may be one of the reasons why the region’s distinctive local variety has remained here.

Peru is often described as the third-largest coffee-producing country in South America after Brazil and Colombia, and it is also one of the world’s leading producers of certified organic Arabica coffee. Cajamarca is said to account for around 40% of Peru’s coffee exports, with production concentrated mainly in the provinces of Jaén and San Ignacio.

Mareyla’s farm, La Golondrina, is a small two-hectare farm whose name means “swallow” in Spanish. The only coffee variety planted there is Bourbon de Colasay. In addition to coffee, the farm also grows corn, yuca, and racacha, an Andean root vegetable. Day-to-day work is carried out with two full-time staff members, and during the harvest season, around eight temporary pickers also help with the work.

Mareyla participates in OCL’s organic program, and this lot was prepared as a microlot. The variety in this lot is a local lineage that producers in the area call Bourbon de Colasay. The trees are said to look very similar to traditional Bourbon, but interestingly, genetic testing has shown that it differs significantly from Bourbon and is closer to the Catimor family. Even so, it apparently does not match any known Catimor variety.

It is thought to be the result of an old natural cross or mutation that occurred in this area long ago. Compared with Bourbon, it produces more fruit and has stronger resistance to coffee leaf rust. At the same time, it is less prone to the green or astringent qualities often associated with Catimor-type varieties. Its identity remains somewhat mysterious, but it is a variety unique to Colasay, one that has long been part of daily life in this region.

In the cup, we found a clear fruit character reminiscent of berries and cherries, along with a sweetness like jam. Orange-like acidity brings brightness to the whole cup, and as it cools, aromas similar to Earl Grey and a caramel-like sweetness remain in the finish.

The cherries are hand-picked early in the morning and first sorted by floating them in water. Overripe or insect-damaged cherries have lower density and float to the surface, allowing them to be removed at this stage. The cherries are then depulped with a small pulper, and the mucilage is broken down through dry fermentation without the use of water. In this region, fermentation typically takes around 24 hours.

The fermentation tank on Mareyla’s farm is lined with majolica tiles. The smooth tiled surface is said to help prevent residue from remaining in the tank, making it easier to control fermentation cleanly. After fermentation, the parchment is washed and slowly dried in a solar dryer, a greenhouse-style drying structure covered with plastic. In this rainy region, this equipment allows producers to manage drying speed without being overly affected by the weather, and it is said to have greatly improved coffee quality throughout the Jaén area.

We hope you will enjoy comparing this coffee with the other coffees from the Fernandez family and discovering how each producer expresses their own individuality, even within the same land and the same variety.