Villanueva

Villanueva — Washed
Huabal, Jaén, Cajamarca, Peru

A one-hectare plot. Twenty years of practice. One Washed lot that reads clean, bright, and specific.

Clever Ángel Villanueva Rafael started working coffee at 21 and has spent the last two decades on a single hectare in Miraflores del Norte, in the Huabal district of Jaén. His farm sits at 1,740 meters in volcanic loam, with cool temperatures and almost 2,000mm of annual rainfall. He prunes selectively each year, handles pests biologically (rust included), and in the last two years has reinvested earnings into his wet mill and solar dryer. Both show in the cup.

The Washed process here is slow and deliberate. Cherries rest 12 hours before pulping, then ferment for 36 hours in sealed bags. Three washes follow, with four hours of airing before parchment moves to the solar dryer for roughly 15 days. The dried coffee then rests another 15 days before it ships. The whole timeline is measured in weeks, not days, and it reads that way in the cup.

Lemon zest up front, bright and precise. Cardamom through the middle, warm and aromatic. A cacao nib finish that sits dark and dry, long after the sip.