Growers in Peru are genuinely committed to producing high-quality Arabica coffee. Consequently, Peruvian Arabica coffee beans are highly sought after by specialty buyers throughout the world and Peru is one of the main sources for organic coffee.

Much of the coffee from Peru is still produced by poor, small-scale farmers who benefit from fair trade coffee. The relatively small premiums allow farmers to invest in quality rather than producing run-of-the-mill coffee demanded by the big producers and the higher quality itself demands a higher price by boutique roasters like ours.

Roasting is an intricate process involving monitoring and logging all roasts including humidity levels, air flow, gas flow, roast times and roast temperatures to ensure consistency and we still take a very artisan approach and each batch is still controlled by the skilled roaster. Amy Nunn is our head roaster who trained under Jamie Hodson, Amy has also attended the prestigious Willem Boot Coffee Training facility in San Francisco.

Our roastery consists of various roasters and processing equipment including grinders, scales and packaging equipment, but at the heart of our production is our fully refurbished 1950’s area GotHot 60kg gas powered drum roaster which is a German engineered masterpiece that has been brought into the 21st century with modern controls and electronics without sacrificing the roasted nirvana that the GotHot outputs batch after batch. 

The majority of coffee in NZ is still either hand packed or semi hand packed, which is understandable as modern packaging machines can cost upwards of a million dollars (manufacturing, shipping, provisioning and training in use).

We at Peru Café decided to invest in such a machine from ICA in Italy, to maintain the dedicated flavours of all our packed coffee and especially so for the retail bags as they are not often consumed as quickly as foodservice.

The ICA packaging machine creates a beautiful 4 corner pouch bag which stands up unassisted, and is flushed of oxygen before being sealed to extend its shelf life. We also use very high grade barrier foil to stop unwanted moisture entering the bag and spoiling the coffee. This is why you see the “Fresher Longer” logo on our bags.

All Inca-Fé coffee is BioGro/IFOAM organic certified which means high quality coffee through traditional farming methods.  We were the first roaster in New Zealand dedicated to processing only certified organic coffee.

Organic coffee from Peru is ‘shade-grown’, meaning original native trees remain in place or new trees are planted. The resulting canopy protects the coffee plants from direct sunlight, rainfall, wind and excessive evaporation, thereby creating a more stable microclimate.

At the same time the trees attract a balance of different species of birds and insects, negating the need for pesticides. The trees absorb nutrients from deeper in the soil and deposit them in the form of leaves and fruits, providing continuous fertilization of the coffee plants with their shallower roots.

The preservation of trees in and around the Amazon is of great importance to world climate. The Amazon area is considered to be the single biggest regulator of global climate.

Organic farming directly results in the quality taste associated with organic coffee and in higher anti-oxidants than non-organic.

Non-organic coffee often results in the use of conventional fertilizers (which can produce inconsistent quality in the bean, especially if combined with irregular heavy rainfall, like currently being experienced all over the world) and is in general one of the heaviest sprayed crops.

Dioxin-like compounds used in pesticides like DDT do not break down in the roasting process. Because coffee is usually not ingested directly, food safety standards are relatively non-existent for coffee. This provides the opportunity for farmers to use strong chemicals which are not only detrimental to your health, but to the environment as well.

In most countries where coffee is grown, there is very high unemployment. Organic farms help ease that burden by providing year-round and stable employment opportunities. The farms are labour-intensive, requiring terracing to be maintained, compost to be applied and manual clearing of undergrowth. Organic farming requires roughly double the amount of manual labour as compared to non-organic.

The fact that there are more year-round work means that workers can establish a permanent abode and that schooling for children can be organised. Setting up a professional organic organisation takes a lot of investment and most farmers we have spoken to do so out of principle. They view looking after their environment as looking after their people and preserving the land as not only a means of crop creation, but of daily food generation.    

They see organic farming as an intellectual and professional challenge, requiring in-depth understanding of various biological aspects and the interaction of organisms and substances on the plantation.

The NZCRA is the national industry body of New Zealand Coffee Roasters, formed to promote the interests of NZ roasters, foster communication and professional development, and spread awareness of the achievements of our local coffee industry.

The rapid evolution of our coffee industry over the last two decades has reflected and helped shape fundamental changes in the way we live. Café going is now embedded in our social and recreational routines, and our notion of coffee has been transformed - it's a long way from a jar of instant, to a savvy consumers expecting fresh beans and a perfect flat white.

This transformation has largely been driven by New Zealand Coffee Roasters. The pioneers of our industry established as standard practice the use of high quality beans and attention to freshness - the next wave added close support of café owners and attention to preparation skills.

http://www.nzcra.org.nz/

Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) is an incorporated society providing leadership, coordination and strategy across the organic sector. Members have organics at their core activity and must demonstrate a commitment to produce food of high quality, consider the wider social and ecological impact of their actions, minimise all forms of pollution, allow everyone involved a quality life which meets their basic needs and to progress toward an entire production, processing and distribution chain which is both socially just and ecologically responsible.

http://www.oanz.org.nz/