Some coffees feel like they’ve been a long time coming. We first met Leyvi Pérez on our very first trip to Cusco in 2021, when she was just beginning her journey into specialty coffee. In the years since, we’ve visited her farm in Santa Teresa, run production workshops together, and supported her through an internship with our export partner, Collective Bean—where she travelled across Peru learning from other producers in our network. This washed Pache is the result of that ongoing work: in the cup we taste notes of blackberry, dried apricot, and candied orange.
Culainn first met Leyvi in 2021 through the NGO BeeCauseWeCare, which works with smallholder coffee producers in Santa Teresa to support sustainable farming, reforestation and bee conservation. Leyvi and her uncle, Jenry Pérez—whose neighbouring farm has produced one of our favourite Peruvian Geishas in recent harvests—were both involved in the NGO’s projects.
At the time, Leyvi was producing commercial-grade coffee but was motivated to improve quality and transition into specialty production. She joined a series of online workshops we ran, focused on practical steps across the production process—from selective harvesting through to careful drying. In 2022, we held our first in-person workshop in Santa Teresa, and introduced Leyvi to our export partner, Collective Bean, who have since supported her development on the ground. Over the following years, we’ve continued to cup her coffees and share feedback as she refined her approach.
When we tasted her latest harvest, the progress was clear. It felt like the right moment to bring her coffee to the UK for the first time.
Cherries were selectively hand-harvested and floated to remove underripe or damaged fruit, along with any foreign material. After depulping, the coffee was fermented in plastic tanks for 72 hours, then washed to remove the remaining mucilage. The parchment coffee was then dried on raised beds inside covered, tunnel-style structures for 25–30 days, allowing for slow and consistent drying.
This lot was harvested between July and October 2025, and arrived in the UK in January 2026.
We agreed the price for the parchment coffee with Leyvi and Collective Bean during the processing stage. Payment was made directly to Leyvi, with logistical support from Collective Bean. From there, Collective Bean handled milling (removing the parchment layer), preparation, and export—packing the coffee into 46kg GrainPro bags for shipment to the UK.
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