Visiting Finca Tasta in Peru

The house we stayed at during our time in Finca Tasta was the first sight to greet us upon arrival.

Late last summer, Corey and I traveled to Northern Peru with Falcon Coffee Importers, where we met with coffee growers, toured their farms, and also visited Falcon’s office and lab. It was a busy, weeklong trip with a lot of information to digest, and typically, most folks don’t try to add on another leg of coffee related travel. But since we were already in the area and didn’t know when we’d be able to come back, we saved some energy and added a few more days to our itinerary. We traveled to the Junín region to visit Edith Meza and tour Finca Tasta. Located in the Satipo province of Junín, it’s tucked away in the Challhuamayo community and is a few hours drive away from Mazamari–the closest town with an airport that operates only twice a week to accommodate a few flights to and from Lima. 

There are many lovely sweeping views while walking through Finca Tasta. On the right is a fresh water river that flows alongside part of the farm.

Edith and Ivan inherited Finca Tasta from their mother, who bought land in Challhuamayo and started the farm. Unfortunately, she was only able to work on it for two years before passing away in 2007, but Edith and Ivan wanted to continue her work and decided to become coffee producers. Edith studied farm management in Lima, and after receiving a scholarship, went onto receive a degree in Coffee Science and Economics at the University of Trieste–an academic program in collaboration with Illy Coffee. Both Edith and Ivan were also sponsored by the Peruvian government to come to the US and receive technical training in coffee. Now, both Edith and Ivan provide consulting and workshops to other neighboring producers.

Edith and Ivan Meza

After receiving her degree, Edith conducted an experiment and wrote a thesis on processing methods. She took one coffee, separated them into three different lots, and processed each lot differently. Using a mass spectrometer detector, she looked into the individual chemical compounds of each coffee and then cupped them. She discovered that each coffee contained different chemical compounds that affect flavor and cupping results. It’s general knowledge that different processing methods can affect flavor, but now her research provided hard, scientific evidence. This solidified her and Ivan’s desires to focus on experimentation with coffee processing.

Edith showing us the last remaining harvested coffees inside the coffee warehouse at Finca Tasta.

Empty coffee drying beds at the end of harvest at Finca Tasta.

These days, Ivan mainly manages their coffee operations in Lima and focuses on business with local roasters, while Edith spearheads farm operations and processing experiments. She stays at the farm all during harvest season and hires seasonal workers to help with picking and sorting. There are two permanent employees who live at the farm year round and manage it in the off season–which is no easy task! The 56 acre estate has 19 acres cultivated with coffee, and the remaining 22 acres is left for natural forest preservation. There are several coffee varieties grown on the farm, including catimor, caturra, catuai, and pacamara.

Time at Finca Tasta was much more relaxed since we arrived right at the end of harvest, but our time there was valuable nonetheless. It gave us an opportunity to have a better understanding of the area and tour the farm at length, where plots of land with coffee trees were interspersed with untouched forest areas. While walking throughout Finca Tasta, I would sometimes forget that I was in a farm and felt like I was walking through the forest—although I certainly wouldn’t miss the coffee trees if they were were starting to flower or grow cherries! In a lot of ways, this is what Edith and Ivan always intended; it’s important to them that their farm is in harmony with the surrounding nature.

Coffee trees are organized into neat rows with enough space for each tree to grow. Trees are planted throughout different parts of Finca Tasta, more than half of which is left for natural forest preservation.

While we were there, Edith and her small team remaining were making plans to prune coffee trees and deciding which fruits and vegetables to grow while they wait for the next coffee harvest. They often grow plantains, yucca, tomatoes, sugarcane, raspberries, and pumpkins–all of which gets sold to an organic grocery in Lima. We helped them with the very last bit of harvest work: we collected the last few handfuls of coffee on the drying beds. Most of these coffees were the last to be stripped from the trees and were of lower quality. These coffees, while not suitable for export, were going to be sold to the local market. Collecting these last bits was a good reminder that there is a market for all types of coffee, and that there’s a lot of work that goes into selecting and sorting the right cherries for making a tasty lot.

Edith showing us natural natural processed coffees on the left and washed coffees still in parchment on the right.

Corey and Marco gathering low grade coffees to bag. Marco lives on Finca Tasta full time and cares for the farm during the off season.

Corey, Edith, and Corazon with Russo, one of Edith’s 3 farm dogs.

It was great to spend some time with Edith and see some of their operations, and since visiting, I’ve been eager to share the coffee we purchased from the most recent harvest. Every coffee we’ve tasted from Finca Tasta has never been short of delicious, and in an effort to highlight their work in different processing methods, we’ve featured a different coffee every year. In the past, we’ve carried a smooth chocolatey washed processed coffee, and sweet and citric honey processed coffee. This time around, we’re excited to share a refreshing natural coffee that reminds us of apple cider, honeydew, and strawberry. This coffee has the perfect balance of fruity flavors, making it really easy to drink and is an easy choice to drink over ice!