# Peruvian Coffee - briefly featured on BBC2



## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

I caught Bruce Parry's Amazon last Monday night when he was travelling from the source of the Amazon to the cocaine valleys.

He was at a very high altitude and found himself in coffee country. The coffee crops are being ripped out and replaced with Coca at an alarming rate.

Coffee cherries are harvested once a year but Coca leaves can be stripped 4 times per year, so they are being given more care and attention in certain areas.

This was sad to see but reality tv at its best.

If you saw how the raw product of cocaine was created you'd think twice about taking it too.

The runoff of the chemicals (kerosene and chlorine amongst other things) seeps directly into the soil where other harvest crops are planted - this has to have a negative impact on their cropping quality.

Did anyone else see this?


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## James Hoffmann (Jul 24, 2008)

Peru has further coffee problems in that it is often very difficult to get cherries to mills within good time of picking, which has dented the quality of production which of course is related to the price. This will also make alternative crops look more appealing. I know FairTrade/CafeDirect do a fair amount of coffee from Peru but it rarely pops up on the speciality radar.


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## TimStyles (Jul 22, 2008)

We poured a Peruvian coffee when I worked at Climpson and Sons. It's nothing special, just a lot of chocolate in the cup, and not a lot else. I tried to find out a bit more about it, but didn't find out a lot, to be honest.

It was cheap, however.


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## michaelbenis (Apr 14, 2009)

I've just finished a bag of Peruvian organic from Red Roaster in Brighton which wasn't bad. Nice and clean, not chocolately really, or only slightly, and nicely layered and aromatic - Tim at RR describers it as being like a green tea. It is layered, but I'm not convinced it's like green tea myself. Nice and balanced and needs a fine grind. Not one of my fall down on my knees in wonder favourites, certainly, but not bad at all...


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

A 'green-tea-like coffee', sounds interesting

How did you brew this? Chemex, Espresso or French Press?


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## CoffeeMachine (Nov 25, 2009)

I went to Peru a couple of years ago, and didn't come across all that many coffee plantations which is a shame becuase it is the perfect climate for it. I think the same might be starting to happen in Ecuador too sadly.


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