Origin: Colasay, Jaén, Cajamarca, Peru

Producer: Merci Fernandez

Farm: La Pomarrosa

Process: Washed with extended fermentation

Varieties: Bourbon

Altitude: 1850 masl

Importer: Apex Coffee & Origin Coffee Labs

Roast: Light

Notes: Plum, Lemon Cake, Wildflowers, Caramel

Transparency: 

• This is our third year buying coffee from Merci Fernandez
• We paid Apex 6.52 USD per pound of exportable green coffee + shipping & storage fees
• We are waiting for the remaining transparency information from Apex

Merci Fernandez, La Pomarrosa

We're SO excited to have Merci Fernandez back on the menu! We got the chance to meet Merci a couple years ago in Chicago of all places. It was at a coffee expo, and we got to brew and showcase her coffee that we roasted. She loved the pink label, but told us we had to put the label on a pink bag next year (she likes pink).

In 2024 We went to Montreal to go visit one of our importers Apex, where we got to cup a biiiig ol table of lots of new coffees to us. There was some big names from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Peru on the table; including coffee from Merci!

Out of the dozen or so cups we tasted, a washed bourbon from Merci stuck out to us the most, as it showed so bright, juicy, floral and clean, my favourite expressions in Peruvian coffee. We were excited for this early opportunity to taste this small lot, and secure a couple bags for ourselves.

This is the third harvest in a row that we've committed to buying Merci's coffee, and it just keeps impressing!  In Peru, Merci works with Origin Coffee Lab, a company run by Peruvian coffee farmers that is the local intermediary. They purchase coffee from smallholders at prices far above the conventional market, and also provide education and support in growing specialty coffee to new farmers trying to break into that market.

Merci grew up working alongside her family who are all coffee producers in the Jaén province. In her words the biggest takeaway from watching her family grow coffee was “the love with which they work.” She studied agriculture and livestock in school while working at her family’s farm, eventually taking the steps to begin her own farm, La Pomarrosa.

This washed Bourbon is grown at the high altitude of 1850 masl. Post harvest it goes through 24hr wet fermentation before being dried on raised beds for 15-20 days. You can taste the care and skill behind this coffee as it shows exceptionally ripe and complex.

Brewing Recommendations:

We love drinking this coffee a variety of ways, it has a lovely soft Plum acidity, Lemon Cake sweetness, aromatic Wildflowers, and rich caramels on the finish.

Pour-over: 1:16-17 ratio, easy to work with, we love the 15g-250ml in the Kalita wave.

Espresso: 18g-18.5g in / 37g-39g out / 27-30 seconds.