New Single Origin Coffee: Peru Pangoa

Brought to Equator Coffee Roasters from the Pangoa region, one of eight districts of the Satipo province and located in Peru’s Central Jungle, is our new single origin coffee: Peru Pangoa. It will be available for purchase in-stores and online from the first of February until the end of the month. And since 2024 just so happens to be a leap year, you’ll get to enjoy it for a whole extra day!

History Of The Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa

The Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa, or C.A.C. Pangoa, is situated in Central America, just east of the Andean mountain range. Fifty farmers from a town in the Junin region called San Martin de Pangoa founded this cooperative in 1977 after separating from its larger predecessor, The Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Santipo, or C.A.C. Santipo, due to the vast distance between this province and their hometown.

C.A.C. Pangoa grew exponentially in a short time so that by the early 1980s they had close to 1,700 members. It soon arranged an internal agreement to save 3% from each sale for its own financing, which led to its members building most of the infrastructure still used to this day. The future held a lot of hope for this cooperative.

Unfortunately, the rest of the 80s weren’t so peaceful or promising. Over the next twenty years, a turbulent era settled in. It was commonly referred to as “El Periodo del Terrorismo.” A militant group known as “The Shining Path” murdered thousands of innocent people in Peru during their fear mongering. Hundreds of farmers thankfully managed to escape to the cities away from the violence, but this took a toll on C.A.C. Pangoa. After slowly regaining membership, it had 690 farmers by the end of 2019 across 17 producer regions, or as they refer to their membership clusters, regional committees (1).

The early 21st Century ushered in an emphasis on solidarity and specialty markets. C.A.C. Pangoa obtained FLO Fair Trade certification in 2001 and soon established the Health Services Fund and the Educational Fund designed for regional and international learning exchanges, both of which continue to serve its members today. 

Abiding by international organic standards, this cooperative inspired its farmers to make the switch to organics via a systemized program of documenting its practices and training. The following year, C.A.C. Pangoa achieved its first organic certification. At the time of writing this, most C.A.C. Pangoa members are either fully certified or are in the process of becoming certified organic.

C.A.C. Pangoa has been partners with Cooperative Coffees since 2005. Furthermore, Cooperative Coffees supports C.A.C. Pangoa's efforts to bolster its reforestation through the Pangoa Women’s Committee. This project launch consisted of planting the first 125 trees with the overall aim to transform farmers’ fields into “Centros de Excelencia,” or centers of excellence.

This is but one of C.A.C. Pangoa’s numerous innovative endeavors to work towards a more sustainable future. Some of its other initiatives include the continuous improvement of collaborative strategies between roasters and producers, stratified agroforestry designs, and the production of organic, fortified bokashi compost.

Tasting Notes And Flavors

The Peru Pangoa is a specialty-grade, certified organic, washed process medium roast coffee (our roast level 4). It is made from 100% Arabica coffee beans, which were grown at an altitude of 1000 to 2050 m. Additionally, this smooth coffee boasts a cupping score of 84.25. While some might say never to judge a book by its cover, the deep purple color of this single origin’s label perfectly encapsulates its key plum flavor inside, along with the delicious tasting notes of nuts and dark chocolate to balance out its dazzling fruitiness. 

Considering this overall earthier profile, I would recommend crafting this coffee as a French Press brew to get the most out of all its intermingling flavors.

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