Halibalŵ

Dalila Flores Venegas owns 2 hectares of land in el Diamante, San Jose de Lourdes, where she grows caturra and castillo varieties. Dalila picks her coffee with the help of family members before she pulps and ferments it in a small concrete tank. Once fermented and the mucilage comes off easily Dalila rinses the coffee and then places it on tarpaulin mats to dry in the sun, where it dries slowly for 7 to 10 days. Once the coffee reaches 15% moisture Dalila then delivers it to Roger Chilcon, a neighbouring producer, who takes transports the coffee to Jaen where he dries it down to 11% before delivering to the Falcon Peru warehouse.

El Diamante is one of the closest coffee producing areas to the city of Jaen and therefore has a huge cooperative presence, at least in the lower elevations. We work with a couple of coffee producing families in El Diamante, who have farms from 1600 to 2000masl. The main varieties grown in the medium altitudes is catuai and castillo, and at higher altitudes it is all bourbon, caturra and typica. El Diamante is one of the few areas in Jaen to have protected forests, which are home to a variety of flora and fauna native to the region. Not only that, there are also many water sources that supply much of the water to the city. This thriving natural environment creates a beautiful setting to grow coffee, but also contributes to the richness and stability of the soils in the area.