Erlita’s Lot Coffee from Peru
Grown, harvested, sold, and shipped by women
Ari Weinzweig, CEO & Co-Founder of Zingerman’s
Back in 2004, Isabel Uriarte Latorre co-founded Café Femenino, an organization dedicated to empowering women on the front lines of the coffee industry. From the get-go, she built the business to support women in the work world financially, spiritually and socially. The project allows women to produce high-quality coffee and get paid commensurately—they’re not stuck bargaining with aggressive buying agents out on the marketplace. And, as per what I wrote above, to boost the energy of women who had generally been left out, ignored, or even abused, and help them reclaim the full lives to which they have always been entitled. The folks at Café Femenino share that:
“Women in remote and rural coffee communities face a host of challenges that keep them trapped in poverty. Many of these isolated women live in male-dominated societies and have very little financial control or decision-making power. 464 women farmers in northern Peru decided to change this dynamic by separating their coffee production from the men’s. In that moment, for the first time, this group of women created their own product and income… to support social justice and empowerment for women coffee producers worldwide.”
Coffee production came to Peru in the 1700s. After two centuries, the heirloom typica variety still comprises 60 percent of the country’s exports. There are more than 110,000 coffee growers in Peru, most of whom are indigenous to these landscapes and speak Spanish only as a second language. The average land-holding farmer lives on less than three hectares, hours from the comforts of electricity and running water. Erlita Baca Arce’s farm is near the Peruvian village of Nueva York, a small coffee community in the Amazonas region of northern Peru, east of the Andes Mountains, at 5700 to 6500 feet above sea level—an ideal altitude for high-quality Arabica coffee trees. Erlita has been part of the project since its inception and now serves as the treasurer of the coop, and as she explains:
“Café Femenino has given me many opportunities to improve the quality of my coffee and the quality of life for my family. I invest the premium I earn in improving our community, providing education for our daughters, and improving the food that we feed our families. Café Femenino has been wonderful in improving the self-esteem and empowerment of the women in our community.“
Erlita is not alone in her positive comments. Every article I’ve read about Café Femenino details outstanding results: increased local recognition of the work the women are doing, both in the fields and on the home front; a reduction in abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual); an increase in income; more men are participating in child care and housework; and upswing in school attendance among local girls. In addition, because the female coffee producers in the area now have the potential to get a better price for their coffee, many men are signing the deeds of their land over to their wives so their coffee will be eligible for Café Femenino designation.
While dignity, meaningful work, and good coffee are always in season, National Women’s History Month is a particularly good time to take notice of Erlita’s Lot. The history of the event goes back over a century to the years before WWI and the Spanish flu, to the end of February 1909, when “National Women’s Day” was sponsored by the Socialist Party of America. By March of 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) was marked by over a million people demanding the right to vote for women, workplace safety, equitable pay, etc. Six years later, on March 8, 1917 in the Russian capital of Petrograd, women workers took to the streets for National Women’s Day, demonstrating en masse in an event that unexpectedly turned into the Russian Revolution. The Tsar abdicated a week later, on March 15. Leon Trotsky wrote, “March 8th was International Women’s Day, and meetings and actions were foreseen. But we did not imagine that this ‘Women’s Day’ would inaugurate the revolution.”
The Erlita’s Lot coffee is as great as the story behind it. Smooth, a bit of dark chocolate, maybe even like a piece of toasted Country Miche bread from the Bakehouse. The coffee has a surprisingly clean finish and modestly full mouthfeel. All the brew methods have been good, but I’m stuck on the smoothest flavor of the bunch, which I found to be Chemex (the syphon pot and the Clever brewing weren’t far behind). Sip some of this great new coffee and nibble on a Bakehouse oatmeal raisin cookie. Erlita’s Lot is available at the Coffee Company, Next Door at the Deli, and at the Roadhouse. Sit, and appreciate the morning as we move into spring. And because I seem to have a proclivity of late for Peruvian poets, here’s a short one that seems right for the moment from surrealist writer Blanca Varela:
it’s seven in the morning
it’s the perfect time to start
dreaming
the coffee becomes eternal
and the sun eternal
if you don’t move
Excerpt from Ari’s weekly Top 5 E-Newsletter. To stay in-the-know about things that Ari is excited about in the Zingerman’s family, sign up here!
This single-origin supports and empowers female coffee producers
March’s Roaster’s Pick coffee tastes great, and gives back.
Our single-origin Roaster’s Pick for the month of March – Peru Erlita’s Lot – comes to us from the finca (or, farm) of Erlita Baca Arce, one of the cofounders of Cafe Femenino®, a program created to support and empower female coffee producers. The program originated in Peru and has since grown into a movement, present in remote coffee-growing regions in nine countries.
Erlita’s circumstance was typical of many women working in coffee in Peru: while they have always been crucial to coffee production, men traditionally held the economic power. In 2004, 464 female coffee producers in Peru united to change this dynamic and take a step toward empowerment by creating the first Café Femenino co-op.
This coffee has so many delicious layers! On first sip, it has a deep fruitiness that reminds us of plum. It also has a rich, toffee-like sweetness and a full, creamy body.
Now that female coffee producers have a potential to get a better price for their coffee, men are often signing the deeds of their land over to their wives so the product is eligible for Cafe Femenino designation. Men supporting women’s work is helping to create healthier communities.
Erlita and the other women of Cafe Femenino are strong role models for their communities and are inspiring future generations. Her daughter, Ketty, is attending university and studying to be an Agricultural Engineer.
Erlita’s farm is in Nueva York, a small coffee community in the Amazonas region of northern Peru, east of the Andes Mountains. The Amazonas is a high-elevation area, typically 5700-6500 feet above sea level – ideal for coffee trees.
For the whole month of March (National Women’s Month):
When you buy a bag of Peru Erlita’s Lot coffee, 10% of the proceeds go to an Early Education Center grant, benefitting the pre-school children of 15 communities in Peru.
For Monday March 8th, 7am-4pm
(International Women’s Day):
Zingerman’s Coffee Company will be brewing Peru Erlita’s Lot coffee all day on Monday March 8th, in honor of International Women’s Day! 100% of the proceeds from your cup of coffee will be donated to an Early Education Center grant, benefitting the pre-school children of 15 communities in Peru. Stop by to support a great cause!
An integral part of Café Femenino is the Cafe Femenino Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Working within the Café Femenino Program, the foundation funds projects that the women farmers prioritize. These projects foster positive change in gender equality and reduce poverty and abuse in the coffee-producing communities.
A word about this grant, from the Foundation:
“The children in rural Peru are severely malnourished, this grant provides funds needed to educate the teachers, parents and students on food nutritional value and how to incorporate the foods into their daily diet with the goal of reducing malnutrition in the rural coffee producing communities in Peru. The Cafe Femenino Foundation has supported the implementation of this project since 2013. Each year the impact is measured by a visiting nurse taking and recording, the height and weight of the students ages 3-5 three times per year. In total, 230 students, 140 parents and 25 teachers in 15 rural early education centers will participate in this program. The curriculum for the early education center students also includes personal hygiene and dental care.
Funds will cover the cost of the traveling nurse, as well as materials needed for the early education centers such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, wash clothes, crayons, books, paper, glue, lunch boxes, mats for the floor where the children sit and play for each education center.
Desired results of this program are to contribute to the improvement of the nutritional status of the pre-school children in the 15 communities while providing the children and parents with information that increases their knowledge of proper nutrition, dietary resources available in their community and set them on a path of improved future health.”