Cerro Azul - Filter Coffee from Peru

This coffee is unfortunately sold out, but it is planned to return with the next harvest.

We always send our filter coffees only in small batches from our Basel roastery to Germany, to deliver the freshest possible coffee to you. So it can sometimes happen that a filter coffee is listed as "sold out". The fresh delivery always arrives at the latest at the beginning of the week and is then available for order again.

Ten families from the Norcafe cooperative have created this farm blend, which impressed us not only with its taste but also with its approach. For us, the focus of this coffee is on its heavy body. The coffee tastes to us like mirabelle plums, with a chocolatey undertone, a clear, mild acidity, and shows a velvety texture.

Cerro Azul - Coffee Info

Roasted for: all common filter methods

Origin: Lonya Grande, Amazonas, Peru

Producers: 10 families, Norcafe Cooperative

Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuaí, Típica, Villa Sarchí

Post-harvest process: Reposa in cherries for 12h, pulped, washed

Further information: arrived at the roastery: May 2022. 

Tell me more about the Cerro Azul Filter Coffee

Cerro Azul is the second microlot we have purchased through the young Norcafe cooperative in Jaén, Peru. This is our third year working with Norcafe. We started with a cooperative blend for a gastronomy mix, then El Colibrí (espresso) was added, and now this filter coffee. It's a microlot produced by 10 selected families in the Lonya Grande district, south of Jaén. Sonia, who is responsible for quality at Norcafe, visited the small fincas and implemented the drying methods with the families. In spring 2022, Sonia visited us in Basel, and we were able to taste the coffee together. "Yes, exactly, that's how it should taste," she said.

Why does the coffee taste the way it tastes?

The coffee cherries were hand-sorted again before resting in the cherry for 12 hours - a reposa. According to Sonia, this short break primarily served to make the coffee more uniform before pulping, as it is a blend from 10 different families. After pulping, the coffee was washed, fermented underwater, and immediately dried. In this respect, it is a classic processing method rooted in the region. The high ripeness of the cherries brings a soft texture and underlying sweetness. Fermentation notes are not felt here, but rather the taste that comes from these farms and the handiwork. A slightly fruity coffee that reminds us of stone fruits like mirabelle plums. The focus of this coffee is on its heavy body, which is present even with a light roast. 

Why did we buy this coffee?

First, because we wanted to make a filter coffee with a coffee from Norcafe. And then, because the coffee proves how precise craftsmanship results in delicious coffee. Many things really have to be right for different producers in different locations to work, ferment, and dry individually in exactly the same way, and for the coffee to taste homogeneous in the end. The coffee is proof of work that only functions when all involved are well-informed, trained, and work precisely. 

How do we roast this coffee?

We roast the coffee as a 15kg batch on our 30kg Giesen roaster. We roast the coffee for 8:15 minutes with a development time of 52 seconds, or 10.5%. It's fun to roast this coffee because it reacts very well to commands - more or less gas input. We let the coffee rattle into the first crack with little restraint, before taking it out at about 2/3 of the cracking stage, letting it finish cracking and cool in the cooling drum.

Brewing Recipe

We brew the coffee in a ratio of 1:16 (e.g., 18g dose, 290g water) at 94° and a slightly finer grind than usual for V60. We do the blooming with 50g for 40 seconds, then up to 170g, topping up to 300g at 1:10, so that the water is poured in at 1:40. For V60, we aim for a brewing time of 2:50 minutes, which further emphasizes the heavy body. Those who like body-focused filter coffees can do everything right with the Aeropress. For more delicate aromatics, we recommend the V60 or Kalita.