Behind every product imported by Aymara Food are women, men, know-how and, above all, a desire for a job that is well done.
Year after year, our growers pour their heart and soul into their farms to produce high-quality organic products. It is a long-term commitment and requires a relatively lengthy process for an exceptional result.
It is with a sense of pride that Aymara Food is able to showcase one of its partners in Fair Trade organic coffee. Don Pablo Gutierrez and his wife Ana work tirelessly all year round to produce an exceptional coffee in Villa Rica.
Read on to find out about our experience learning about the exciting and passionate world of an organic coffee farm like no other…
From fruit to drink, how do you make good coffee?
The coffee tree is a small shrub that grows in humid regions that can be hot depending on the variety (Arabica or Robusta).
A few months after the coffee tree flowers, fleshy red fruits appear: coffee cherries, each containing two coffee beans.
After harvesting, the fruits are sorted according to their quality, the thin skin around the coffee beans is removed and then they too are sorted.
Then comes the essential stage of roasting, which releases the aromas and gives the distinctive flavour to each type of coffee. Roasting is carried out between 180°C and 240°C for a length of time that varies depending on the desired colour and taste.
Coffee beans cannot be enjoyed without first being ground. The coffee can then be prepared and enjoyed according to individual preferences!
The secrets of an exceptional organic coffee from Peru
Peru is the fifth largest exporter of Arabica coffee in the world. Aymara Food, an importer of organic coffee from Latin America, was keen to meet local producers.
Our team visited a Peruvian cooperative located in the Chanchamayo Valley, in the heart of the central Amazon rainforest. The 1,200 member farmers have been growing coffee trees at an altitude of 1,200 to 1,700 metres for more than 50 years.
Thanks to their exceptional geographical location and real know-how, the producers offer 100% Arabica coffees of various varieties: Typica, Bourbon, Geisha, Catimor, Caturra.
It is at an altitude of 1,400 metres, on the humid and sunny slopes of Villa Rica, that Aymara Food met Pablo and Ana Gutierrez, producers of a 3 hectare plantation of Altura organic coffee.
In addition to their experience and skills, this couple of producers maintains a special and even personal relationship with their coffee plants. They cultivate and cherish them with great patience and care.
Don Pablo explains that the taste palette of a coffee is influenced by the soil, climate, cherry varieties, quality and maturity.
“At our farm, our coffee fruits are picked once a year, and of course only when the cherries have reached maturity. Our passion for taste and our know-how allow us to produce coffees with a great aromatic richness.”
Ana adds that their exceptional coffees come from an extremely rare terroir and from biodynamic agriculture that respects nature, making it possible to enhance the final product.
“Biodynamics is an agricultural technique that aims to maintain the health of the soil and plants in order to produce healthy food and products of the highest quality.”
Ana and Pablo have a real sensitivity and passion for their coffee trees, which they cultivate with technical expertise, rigour and know-how.
“For us, our coffee trees have real personality.”»
It is by taking special care of their coffee trees, day in, day out, that Pablo and Ana produce an exceptionally strong organic coffee on a yearly basis.