Edith Meza Sagarvinaga, a coffee producer from Peru’s Central Forest, and her brother Ivan are second generation coffee farmers who took over their mother’s farm in 2008. Edith is an active member of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) in Peru.
At their farm, Finca Tasta, Edith and Ivan are leading by example, focusing on sustainability and independence by diversifying crops beyond just coffee to include food for themselves and their workers. They hope to inspire other farmers to move away from monoculture and back towards a model of truly sustainable agriculture.
Edith first shared her harvest with us in 2013, as she judged the Peru National Barista Championships. We were blown away by the clean and fruit-forward flavors of her natural process coffee.
Peru’s coffee production predates many other Central and South American nations, primarily consumed domestically until disruptions in foreign markets spurred its export growth. Significant investments in sustainability and quality have garnered global attention. Recent years have seen Peru shine, thanks to producers like Edith & Ivan, who combine traditional growing expertise with meticulously applied processing methods.
This part of the world is seeped in humidity from the Amazon rainforest and doesn’t see a lot of sunlight. So it’s very unusual to find producers who will process their coffee in ways typical of dryer, sunnier climates – with the mucilage and often the skin of the fruit drying around the seed.
When we first met Edith, she had not produced much of this coffee and had already sold what little she had but we continued to visit Peru each year and continued working with Edith as she developed her coffee acumen.
Edith continued to grow her natural process harvest and finally in 2015 had enough of her harvest to share with us at Carrboro Coffee Roasters, so we could roast it and share it with you. From that point onwards, CCR and Edith continued to support each other and find ways to continue to both develop the farm and experiment with new varietals and processes. The fruits of which we are now sharing with you as featured coffees!
As up-and-coming coffee producers, they endeavor to push the status quo, and their natural and honey processed coffee do just that.
We are inspired by Edith’s determination to accomplish something that everyone said was impossible as well as by her excitement and enjoyment for creating and developing. Over the years Carrboro Coffee Roasters has worked together with Edith and her brother Ivan to support variations and experimentation’s in farming/cultivation, increasing the varietals types and processing potential.
