Jhonny Vidurrizaga is an impressively methodical and progressive farmer we’ve become familiar with since we started visiting Peru in recent years. Although most of our focus thus far has been on Jaen and its neighboring municipalities in the northern regions of Cajamarca, an area that Jhonny actually also is keeping a close eye on, he is from another coffee farming region; Villa Rica in Pasco, in the middle of the country.
Jhonny is an interesting kind of farmer in today’s specialty coffee landscape. For one, he is a rather young one, thus representing a fresh spirit in an otherwise depressed coffee sector in Peru. Secondly, he is taking advantage of a strong family tradition of coffee farming that goes several generations back in time, but most importantly, he is using his curiosity, creativity, and entrepreneurial energy to explore the potential of new processing techniques, often referred to as “experiments”. He is way past the stages of experimenting though, now he is consistently producing the coffee he wants to - by design.
As we have heard about so many times before, altitude is paramount. Then what? At Finca Vidurrizaga where they are growing coffee at a mere 1350 masl, how do they go about it, making it outstandingly tasty? Making specialty coffee starts with a particular mindset, but ultimately it is a craft. There are particular things one needs to do. Jhonny does them all.
As a matter of fact, and way beyond the rigorous procedures of selective picking, floating, and hand screening of cherries before any further processing, Jhonny is planning the outcome of the cup profile from the get-go.
By weighing the cherries, measuring the sugar content beforehand and Ph throughout the various steps of fermentation, he is aiming at specific flavors; levels of acidity and sweetness in the cup. The drying process too, with shade, and monitoring of temperature and humidity throughout, are also key parameters in making a good cup and a consistent quality – one that lasts.
There are few coincidences here, and the strong pursuit of a particular outcome is why we think it is fair to say that these coffees are made by design. Nature plays one defined role, man takes another. As such, Jhonny Vidurrizaga is a particularly good example as a representative of this new wave in farming and crafting coffee.
As if this isn’t enough to impress us, he’ll forever be a farmer that pioneered the connect.coffee platform. We have created it to be a useful tech tool that coffee farmers can use to present themselves; telling their story, posting photos and videos, and explaining each of the lots that they are making - in as much detail as they desire!
The ultimate proof of concept for us is when a farmer, such as Jhonny, is taking the opportunity to show who he is, and showing what he has to offer. So he did!
- Robert W.