Plot Peru Las Etiopes Whole Bean

7oz / 200g Whole Bean
Notes: Apricot, Raspberry, Floral Honey,
Region: Jaen, Cajamarca
Producer: Simon Brown and Meredith Cruz, Las Etiopes
Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom
Process: Washed Mosto
Elevation: 1950 - 2050 m
Harvest: August - September 2025
 
From Plot:
 
"This coffee is really special to us. Grown and processed by close friends of ours who managed to get hold of seeds from Ethiopia and grow them in the highlands of Peru. It’s complex and elegant with notes of apricots and red fruits, jasmine and rose aromas, and a rich honey-like sweetness.
 
Apart from several well-known exotic varieties, Simon and Merlith planted Las Etíopes with Ethiopian heirloom varieties originating from Yirgacheffe and Guji. There are around five lines: some ripen yellow or pink; some are compact; and others are taller, somewhat similar to Bourbon or Gesha. This year is only the second year these trees have yielded enough cherry to produce an exportable lot.
 
Until 2025, almost all production from Las Etíopes was processed using conventional fermentation methods, dry fermenting in tiled tanks, and this remains the farm’s primary approach. In 2025, however, some production was processed in stainless steel tanks with added natural inoculants. To support these new techniques, a processing lab was built to house the stainless steel tanks, food-grade plastic bioreactor barrels, and microscope and lab equipment needed to isolate and monitor yeast and bacteria growth prior to inoculation.
 
This lot was fermented with a natural mosto, made by fermenting a batch of Geisha in sealed tanks with a solution of simple syrup and hops. The hops are used for their natural antimicrobial properties, which encourage the proliferation of yeasts rather than bacteria. The pulped coffee is then left to ferment for 5 to 7 days, with pH and brix readings taken regularly to monitor fermentation and yeast growth. Once the batch reaches a point where the yeast are sufficiently vigorous, the liquid is strained off and the coffee removed. This liquid is the mosto, which can be used to inoculate production batches of coffee, and maintained much like a sourdough starter with regular feedings of sugar syrup, keeping a close eye on the pH to ensure the acidity doesn’t drop too much.
 
Freshly picked coffee is first rinsed and floated in fresh, cold spring water which both removes lower quality beans and cleans the cherry and reduce its microbial load. The rinsed cherries are depulped and placed in stainless steel tanks, where they are fermented for a period of 72 hours with the mosto under the natural pressure generated from fermentation. Once the fermentation is complete, the coffee is taken out of the tank and the liquid preserved for future batches, after being refreshed with more sugar syrup. The fermented coffee is washed once in spring water and moved over to the drying beds for slow drying. At Las Etíopes, the coffee is dried in a covered drying tent where it dries slowly for 15 to 20 days, depending on the weather conditions, until it reaches 11% moisture.
 
Producer
We’ve known Simon Brown for many years and have travelled with him in various producing countries during his time as head of sourcing for a large importer. For the past few years, he’s been based in Peru, where he has settled, made a home, and started a family.
 
In 2019, Simon purchased Las Etíopes, a seven hectare farm situated in the village of El Porvenir in Jaén, Cajamarca. The farm sits at an altitude of 1,900 masl and reaches 2,050 masl at its peak. In early 2020, the first trees were planted—Ethiopian heirloom varieties, Gesha, Wush Wush, and Sidra.
 
In 2021, Simon and his partner Merlith Cruz expanded the farm by buying an additional three hectares of land between 1,750 and 1,900 masl. They planted this area with Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, Catimor, and a small amount of Pacamara. These local varieties, combined with the high altitudes, organic matter-rich soils, and humid climate, produce coffees with a pronounced acidity and great body.
 
Las Etíopes specializes in exotic varieties and impeccable processing. In 2022—their first season producing enough coffee to export—a farm blend of their varieties earned 19th place in the Cup of Excellence! They also process cherries purchased from neighbouring farms, known as out-growers.
 
This dynamic couple have also set up an exporting company called Chacra. In Peru this means a small farm or agricultural field, originating from the Quechua word “chakra” which signifies a small plot of arable land used to produce food for nearby residents."