April 2026

The El Oso Project was created to help protect the forests surrounding coffee farms near the Santuario Nacional Tabaconas Namballe nature sanctuary in San Ignacio. Many of these farms sit in the buffer zone of this protected area, where bears and other wildlife are under increasing pressure and face the risk of being lost forever in this region.

A big part of the project focuses on organic farming practices and certification. These standards don’t just improve coffee production they also encourage farmers to take an active role in protecting local ecosystems and safeguarding species that are at risk.

To support this balance between farming and conservation, the project provides native tree species for replanting areas that need restoration, helping regenerate forests with plants that naturally belong there. Farmers also receive coffee seedlings suited to growing within forest environments.

Practical support is another key part of the initiative. Solar drying tents have been introduced to improve coffee processing, along with 200 litre fermentation drums. Farmers have also been given roofing materials to build composting areas, which reduces the need to purchase fertilisers. Instead, coffee cherry waste can be broken down and reused as compost, cutting waste and lowering environmental impact while improving coffee quality.

Over the past few years, the El Oso Project has continued to grow. To support that growth, the wider cooperative has now been included, these members are known as the “Amigos of El Oso.” By expanding the network, more farmers can take part and more funds can be directed toward protecting wildlife.

A larger cooperative also means more opportunities to run workshops and share knowledge. At the same time, the cooperative distributes native forest trees for farmers to plant alongside their coffee crops. This helps maintain a careful balance between productive farming and long term forest conservation.

Amigos Del Oso (friends of the bear) refers to a group of coffee producers who contribute to the larger El Oso project which champions a regenerative style of farming in the region. The coffee cherries mature slowly resulting in high natural sweetness and complex fruit flavour.

These characteristics lend themselves well to darker roasting, and result in an accessible coffee that stands up to a wide range of brew methods. Packed with caramel-like flavour, this coffee also has a subtle warm spice note of nutmeg, and a rich finish of dark chocolate.

Based in the small town of Chirinos in in the region of Cajamarca northern Peru is a small family run coffee farm and exporter called Finca Churupampa. The business grew out of Tocto Bermeo’s family farm. After enter the specialty coffee market with there own coffees, the family saw an great opportunity to help other small farmers in the region to access the same benefits.

They started exporting other producers coffee in 2013, and are now representing 28 coffee producing families in the Chirinos and wider region. As well as helping these families find a path to the specialty market, Churupampa also supports them in a wider range of technical assistance. Including help in constructing drying facilities which in Peru is curial due to the damp climate around harvest time. As well as promoting the production and use of organic compost, and the promotion of crop diversification and small livestock farming to support biodiversity, food security and income diversity for coffee producing households.

One of Churupampa’s core products is its Churu Blender, that is produced at scale each year. This blender is made up of lots from all 28 families that Churupampa works with across the region. This provides price stability and a meaningful outlet for the families high 83-84 point coffees.

The co-ordination for the blender is all carried out by Churupampa, all lots are QC’d by their team to ensure that all the coffee lots meet the blend profile set. The consolidation of of all the different parchments is done and completed before being dry milled at the Finca Churupampa dry mill in Chirinos.

Finca Churupampa represents 28 individual farms in the local region. Together they combine their speciality scoring, high altitude lots together to create one core coffee that they also export themselves! Coffees from the high and humid Peruvian jungle can be very dense - therefore roasting this coffee involves a relatively high heat to access all the flavour potential and caramelize the natural sugars. The result has classic flavours of nuts, chocolate and brown sugar sweetness, but with an elevated complexity.