423 Tyee Drive, Point Roberts, WA 98281 (360) 945-2454
Certified organic shade grown coffee from exceptionally hard working people on the slopes of the Andes Mountains in Northern Peru. The coffee is smooth with medium body, well balanced, sweet, and slightly chocolatey flavor.
The Region
Andes Gold certified organic shade grown coffee is from coffee farms on the slopes of the northeast Andes in Northern Peru. The organic coffee growing communities range in elevation above sea level from 1200 meters to about 2000 meters. During good traveling weather, these small communities are 8 to 16 hours from the central northern city of Chiclayo, Peru. During the El Nino phenomenon, come of the small villages were virtually isolated. Roads and bridges were washed out, and in some cases, complete villages were destroyed by flood waters and landslides. The lifeline for many staples and services were severely interrupted.
The People
The people of these communities are traditional native farmers. They are a very proud people, who are descendants of the ancient Inca Indian tribes. They grow grains, vegetables, and tropical fruits in small quantities for in-country sales and consumption and to trade for other goods that they would not normally be able to purchase. Coffee is the main crop of this region, and the only crop grown in large enough quantities for th export market. Regardless of how bad or difficult their living conditions are, these people are exceptionally hardworking. In 1997, for the first time, one of the communities near the Equador frontier held an organic coffee festival. Some of the farmers and their families had to hike two to four hours to get there. They had made a special banner welcoming our importer to the festival, who was given the honor of crowning the first queen or organic coffee. It had to be a wonderful experience to participate in this event and view it from high in the Andes Mountains.
The Coffee
Ninety-five percent of the coffee with the Andes Gold Mark is of the older variety of Arabica and Typica trees. The growers who supply our coffee have made long-term commitments for the preservation of the environment and to the buyers and roasters to provide the best quality, certified organic, shade grown, washed, hard bean coffee possible from their regions. The accomplish this goal, they integrate aggressive, active organic agriculture practices along with improving the work of processing at wet beneficios and continually monitoring and improving the milling, sorting, and grading of the coffees. All of the coffees are grown in what is considered a traditional polyculture shade grown environment. These farmers have been growing coffee without chemicals for generations. Because of our importer’s long term commitment, they have been able to hire coffee technicians to gain further training in composing, pruning, and terracing to help improve yields and the quality of their coffee. All Point Roberts Coffee Roasting Coffee’s decaffeinated beans are Peruvian Andes Gold.
The Swiss Water Decaffeinated process is as follows:
• An initial moisture analysis is performed and the coffee is cupped to ensure that it meets taste standards
• The beans are screened and cleaned to remove any dust or foreign material
• While the beans are being decaffeinated, the coffee is continuously monitored for caffeine levels to ensure that the amount of caffeine extracted meets strict specifications. Coffees are certified 99.9% caffeine free
• After the coffee has been decaffeinated and dried, the moisture level of the decaffeinated beans is checked again to ensure minimal moisture loss during drying. This process is done to ensure optimal roasting performance. The caffeine content is again tested to ensure caffeine removal specifications have been met
• After the beans have been screened and polished the appearance is visually examined and they are cupped again to make sure they are of a quality and taste the will please our customers.
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Andes Gold beans from Peru are medium roasted to produce a well balanced, slightly chocolate-y, slightly sweet flavor with medium body. Really delicious. You’d never know there was no caffeine!
