Finca San Ignacio

The story of San Ignacio begins in 1978, when Aurelio Quispe Mamani arrived in Pichanaqui from Huancayo intending to grow cocoa. But the volcanic soil and the altitude of the Selva Central soon convinced him that Arabica coffee was the real treasure of those Junín highlands.

Over three decades, Aurelio built his farm tree by tree. He learned the cycle of each variety, the behavior of the Andean rains and the exact moment when the Red Catuai cherry reaches optimal ripeness. Today his daughter Carmen runs the farm with the same philosophy: patience, altitude and complete respect for the ecosystem of Peru's Selva Central.

San Ignacio is farmed the way organic coffee is grown in the Selva Central: no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The pulp of the coffee itself goes back to the soil as compost and bokashi. Native guaba and pacae shade regulates temperature and fixes nitrogen. The coffee berry borer is controlled with Beauveria bassiana and alcohol traps, and leaf rust with mineral sprays and sanitary pruning. On the slopes, living ground cover and contour planting hold the soil that the Andean rains would wash away. Harvest is 100% by hand, cherry by cherry, between June and August, and the coffee is washed and dried on raised African beds.