January Subscription Lineup

Peru Rutas Del Incas

We are extremely excited to feature this awesome coffee from Peru, a country that’s continuing to surprise us and displays exceptional quality. We wrote a longer and more detailed blog post about the Rutas Del Incas which you can find here. Definitely go check that out if you’re interested in learning more about this coffee. Here is a snippet from the longer post:

“The Rutas del Incas cooperative has seen immense success and growth since its inception only 7 years ago. What started as a cooperative with only 33 members has now spread to more than 300 members in several different growing areas within the Chota province. Part of this success can be attributed to the cooperative’s relentless efforts to pursue quality over quantity. Instead of producing a lot of mediocre coffee, the cooperative produces a smaller amount of very high-quality coffee with a distinct focus on physical quality and uniformity, two features that help create the expressive flavors we love in this coffee!”

Again, check out the blog for more information!

This coffee displays aromas of red fruits and caramel with fruity flavors of nectarine and red pear with a lingering finish of candied-walnut. 

Processing – Fully Washed
Varieties – Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, Pache, Catimor
Harvest – April-September
Farmers – Various
Altitude – 1600-2100 MASL
Region – Chota Province, Cajamarca Region

Colombia Inza

Colombia is a country we source a lot of coffee from. Yet, we’re still discovering new pockets of this diverse and sprawling nation where excellent coffee is being produced. One region that’s captured our attention is the Inza Municipality of the Cauca region. In recent years Inza has become recognized as one of the foremost regions producing excellent specialty coffee. Situated in between several volcanic mountains, Inza remains one of those completely unique micro-climates that are perfect for cultivating specialty coffee. Several of Colombia’s largest rivers flow from this valley, providing fresh water for many of the producers in the region. This particular lot comes from the Pillimue group, an association of producers in Inza who are focused on farming using organic practices. Though they recently received official certification, most producers in this area have followed traditional agricultural techniques that do not use pesticides. By avoiding pesticide use, the land and coffee trees are much healthier. In this area, many producers still grow caturra, one of the older varieties found in Colombia. Alongside the caturra plants are variedad Colombia, one of the hybrid varieties spread to producers by the FNC (Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia) that at one point was resistant to coffee-leaf-rust and pests. These varieties, mixed with the very unique volcanic soils in Inza create a deep and dense cup profile that’ll leave you wanting more.

In the cup, expect dense and layered tones of brown sugar and chocolate with soft dark fruity flavors that remind us of black plums and blackberries. 

Processing – Fully Washed
Varieties – Caturra and Variedad Colombia with smaller amounts of Castillo and Typica
Harvest – April-September
Farmers – Various members of the Pillimue Group
Altitude – 1800-2000 MASL
Region – Inza Municipality, Cauca State

Brazil Sao Jose

For decades Colombia and Brazil together produced most of the world’s coffee. As trends have shifted, Colombia has produced less overall coffee, but it can be argued the quality is greatly improving. Meanwhile, Brazil continues to produce larger and larger amounts of coffee each year, leading the world’s coffee production by millions of bags. At Utopian, we do not purchase a lot of Brazilian coffee precisely due to this quantity over quality focus. Over the last few years, we’ve begun to see hope for Brazil to become a country that produces coffees that are flavor and quality focused. This particular lot comes from producer Marcos Antonio de Fretias who grew up alongside his parent’s coffee farm. Marcos’ parents purchased their first hectare of land in the 1960s with the dream of cultivating coffee. Marcos helped his family every step of the way, managing most aspects of the farm before leaving for college in the late 1970s. In 1984 Marcos graduated from college with an agronomy degree and returned home to help continue the dream of growing coffee. Today, Marcos cultivates over 300 hectares of coffee with a focus on producing high-quality microlots. This particular lot features a new processing method: Anaerobic Red Honey. The honey fermentation process was developed in Costa Rica where there was a lack of water. The coffee cherries are de-pulped (aka the fruity-flesh is removed) leaving just the “honey” mucilage layer and the seeds. Allowing the seeds to ferment in their own mucilage creates a distinctive flavor that a lot of people enjoy, thus many producers have adopted the honey processing method. Marcos has utilized this honey process and elevated it by using an anaerobic environment which produces a very specific version of fermentation. The result is dense fruity flavors in the final cup.

In the cup we taste fruity flavors like tropical limeade and juicy red pear with a soft finish of watermelon and orgeat. 

Processing – Anaerobic Red Honey
Varieties – Mundo Novo
Harvest – April-September
Farmer – Marcos Antonio de Freitas
Altitude – 950 MASL
Region – Sul De Minas