La Montaña - Peru

For generations, the Sembrera family focused on growing common commercial grade varietals to produce large volumes. When Esmilda Sembrera acquired her first plot of land, she followed in her family's footstep. However, she decided to take a step away from her family traditions 8 years ago, and turned to producing specialty coffee together with her husband, Gonzalo.

Esmilda and Gonzalo harvested Pink Bourbon, which secured 6th place in Cajamarca's specialty coffee competition. Her farm currently produces Pink Bourbon, Caturra, Typica, and Catuai, and they expect their first harvest of Panamanian Gesha in 2027. Given their success in the local competition, Esmilda and Gonzalo are working towards meeting the minimum volume required to compete in the Cup of Excellence 2027.

The continuous growth in quality at her farm comes from the effort they put in their meticulous processing methods. After handpicking and manually selecting only the ripest cherries, these Pink Bourbon cherries undergo an anaerobic fermentation process in GrainPro bags for 48 hours. Then, the cherries are sorted again by density, removing any lower density fruit. Once depulped, the beans (with mucilage still intact) are transferred to sealed containers for another 40-hour anaerobic fermentation. After the double fermentation process is complete, the coffee dries on raised beds for 10 to 15 days. At last, the beans undergo a 3 to 5 week 'reposo', a resting period to allow the moisture and sugar levels to equalize and stabilize, resulting in a balanced flavor profile. This expressive cup has floral tea-like notes of earl grey, pleasant soft acidity of white grapes, and a refreshing finish of sweet pink grapefruit.