PERU - El Palto

The Flavour Profile

There's something quietly extraordinary about this cup. Peru El Palto is a medium roast single origin specialty coffee that opens with a wave of mixed berries — bright, jammy and natural — before settling into the deep comfort of brownie and cane sugar. It's the kind of coffee that makes you stop mid-sip. Rich, sweet, and beautifully balanced, with a smooth medium body that lingers just long enough.

The fully washed process keeps everything clean and focused — no muddiness, no noise. Just the pure character of Caturra and Bourbon grown high in the mountains of Cajamarca at 1,800–1,850 metres, where cool nights and rich soils do all the heavy lifting. This is organic Peruvian coffee at its very best.

Drinking it black?
Brewed black, Peru El Palto really sings. As a filter coffee, V60 or AeroPress, those berry notes come forward with a natural sweetness underpinned by brownie richness and cane sugar softness. Pour over and cafetière work beautifully too — clean, sweet and deeply satisfying from first sip to last. As an espresso, expect a bold, fruity sweetness with a lusciously smooth finish.

Drinking it with milk?
Add milk and this coffee transforms into something almost dessert-like. The berries soften into a jammy sweetness, the brownie deepens, and the cane sugar rounds everything out into a smooth, indulgent latte or flat white. A medium roast Peruvian coffee that holds its own beautifully with oat, almond or full-fat milk.

This is a freshly roasted to order specialty coffee — small batch roasted by Nick in our roastery, just outside Canterbury, so it arrives at its absolute best, never sitting on a shelf. We grind fresh for free — just tell us your brew method at checkout. Buy a kilo and save 10%.

The Little Details

El Palto is a 2-hectare family farm perched at 1,800–1,850 metres above sea level in El Cautivo, Cajamarca — one of Peru's most celebrated coffee-growing regions. It's owned and worked by Maria Gloria Neira Santos, a remarkable producer who also serves as president of QORI Coffee, a women's producer group in Cajamarca dedicated to quality and independence. Maria's coffee earned 5th place at the Gold Cup Peru 2021 — one of the most prestigious specialty coffee competitions in the country. She grows Caturra and Bourbon varietals, certified organic, processed fully washed. Every bag you buy supports a woman who has built something extraordinary.

About the Process

Harvest at El Palto runs from June through October, when Maria and her team hand-pick only the ripest red cherries from the Caturra and Bourbon plants. Selective hand-picking is everything at this altitude — it ensures only peak-ripeness cherries make it through, which directly translates into sweetness and clarity in the cup.

After picking, the cherries are sorted and floated in water to remove any defects or underripe fruit — anything that floats is removed before processing begins. Only the densest, ripest cherries move forward.

The coffee is fully washed — the cherries are depulped to remove the outer fruit skin, then fermented to break down the sticky mucilage layer. After fermentation, the beans are thoroughly washed with fresh water to remove all remaining mucilage, leaving the parchment coffee clean and bright.

The washed parchment is then spread evenly on raised drying beds to dry slowly in the open mountain air and sun of Cajamarca. At altitude, drying is gentle and even — typically taking 10–15 days until the ideal moisture content is reached. It's this careful, unhurried drying that locks in the berry sweetness and brownie depth you taste in the cup. From Maria's hands to yours — every step done with intention.