PERU
Guersy de la Cruz

karamel, horká čokoláda, ananás, jahoda

Guersy Michael Milian de la Cruz joined the Asociación de Productores Cafetaleros Juan Marco „El Palto“ (JUMARP) in 2012. He farms his Finca Fundo Don Eulalio in Gracias a Dios while taking care of his young family.

During the harvest season, coffee is selectively handpicked. This labor-intensive process usually involves the entire family. Some larger farms may hire local day laborers to help with harvest.

After harvesting, cherry is often hand-sorted to remove damaged or underripe cherries and is sometimes (depending on the family’s processing setup) floated in buckets or plastic vats to remove underweights.

Drying infrastructure varies greatly in Peru. Some farmers use covered raised beds and others have a ‘carpa solar’ – a raised drying room, often above a storage shed or even their home.

Cherry will dry for around 20 days on average and no matter the drying method will be turned regularly to ensure even drying.