The city of Jaén, the capital of the larger province that shares the same name, is the hub of northern Peru’s bustling coffee trade. Historically, the highest-regarded areas for coffee in Jaén province have been north of the city. In 2017, our exporting partner Origin Coffee Lab (OCL) sampled coffees from lesser-known districts in the remote and mountainous areas to the west and southwest of the province. These coffees’ flavor profiles were unique, leading OCL to purchase small lots for prices well above the regional average. In the following years, OCL opened a cupping lab in the region and has steadily purchased coffees from farms located in Colasay, San Felipe, and Chontalí. We first visited and purchased coffees from Colasay during the 2019 harvest.
In the center of these communities stands a large mountain called La Viuda, Spanish for “the Widow.” This towering peak is a geographical focal point, visible from many of the small communities in the area. When searching for a name for this new project, we sought input from both OCL and their producer partners. "La Viuda" was the resounding answer. It’s an ideal moniker: just as their communities share La Viuda’s peak as a common landmark, these producers in these communities seek to have their coffees recognized from afar as among the best in Peru. This year’s selections for La Viuda come primarily from the community of La Higuera and Vencedor in the Colasay district.
We’ve found coffees in this area taste unique compared to surrounding regions. This is largely due to a regional coffee variety that producers have dubbed “Bourbon de Colasay.” In the field, these trees bear an uncanny resemblance to traditional Bourbons, though they produce more fruit and are highly resistant to Coffee Leaf Rust—a blight affecting nearly all coffee growing regions across the world. Genetic testing has shown that this variety is quite different from Bourbon, more so resembling the genetics of Catimor. Catimors are a family of introgressed varieties, meaning they stem from an early cross of two different species of coffee—Arabica and Robusta. Interestingly, the genetic markers for Bourbon de Colasay are clearly related to Catimors, though do not match any known Catimor varieties exactly. This suggests that this variety was the result of a cross-pollination or mutation that happened in this area at some point years ago. While Bourbon de Colasay has the production benefits of Catimors, mentioned above, it lacks the vegetal and astringent flavors often found in the Catimor family. This variety is just becoming known to coffee producers and researchers alike, and could become an important tool in the future for producers battling the effects of climate change, which disproportionately affect traditionally high-quality varieties like Bourbon, Caturra and Typica.
