The northern region of Cajamarca in Peru is known for producing high-quality coffee thanks to its stunning nature reserves and water sources. It’s near the town of Jaen that Eleuterio Quispe Perez and Juana Diaz Zamora run their family-owned coffee farm: El Palmo, named after an old big palm tree located in the middle of the terrain.
Eleuterio has been involved in the coffee industry for 47 years— almost a lifetime—and it all started when his father motivated him to begin his own production. He saw that the profitability of other crops wasn’t as good as coffee, so he followed his dad’s advice.
Whenever he has some spare time, Eleuterio does a bit of woodworking, but coffee has been their family’s primary source of income. Producing specialty-grade coffee provides a higher income, which is reinvested in the improvement of the facilities (like upgrading the wet mill area) and pays for their kids’ education (which brings a lot of joy).
The future outlook for this couple is to keep learning more about processing, which will lead to raising the quality of their coffee.
