In 2006, Counter Culture traveled to Peru exploring regions, organizations, and projects that were new to us. We met with a few cooperatives, and the conversations that started on that fateful trip are what ultimately steered Counter Culture to a now ten-year-long project with producers in Northern Peru.
During that trip we also visited the area of Cusco in central Peru, where we crossed paths with another coffee buyer, Aleco Chigounis. Years later, Aleco founded Red Fox Coffee Merchants–a company putting in tons of work to develop specialty supply chains in Central and Southern Peru. It is through Red Fox that we have the great fortune to buy some extraordinary coffees like this lot from Eudis Orosco. This selection from Eudis is only the second limited-release, single-farmer offering Counter Culture has sold from this area, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Established in 2005, the Incahuasi Valley Cooperative unites nearly a dozen communities to promote specialty coffee production. Through investments in wet mills, drying infrastructure, education, and marketing, the cooperative enhances producers’ market access. Tasting and quality analysis occurs at a warehouse in Andahuaylas, an area that is technically central to farmers, but also some four hours away from many producers. Since first purchasing the group’s coffee in 2015, we've seen significant progress in both the quality of the coffee and strength of the communities. We feel privileged to deliver this exceptional coffee to our customers while supporting some of the most remote communities in Peru.