El Buen Pastor

This subscriber-exclusive lot comes to us from the Cenfrocafe cooperative, our longest-running partnership in Peru. El Buen Pastor is a small association of 10 producers tending small plots in the San Pedro community of Tabaconas. Though we’ve worked with Cenfrocafe since 2007, this is our first purchase from the Tabaconas region. It’s a fairly remote area, about four hours by car from the cooperative’s headquarters in Jaen. Over the years, we’ve tasted a few small lots from Tabaconas with notable quality. When tasting through samples sent from Cenfrocafe this season, this small lot stood out to us with confectionery notes of marzipan and cocoa, underpinned by subtle flavors of stone fruit. 

Pronunciation: el BWEHN pah-STOR

Sourced from the Tabaconas region of Peru, El Buen Pastor represents the dedicated work of the producer of the same name. This offering, brought to market by Counter Culture Coffee, presents a profile defined by notes of marzipan, cocoa, and stone fruit. While specific flavor profiles vary based on processing methods and regional terroir, coffees from Peru are often celebrated for their balanced acidity and approachable sweetness.

When evaluating the nuances of a cup like this, tasters often look for the interplay between nutty, confectionary undertones and brighter fruit characteristics. To better understand how these specific descriptors fit into the broader spectrum of coffee sensory analysis, you can consult the flavor wheel. By identifying these distinct markers, drinkers can develop a more comprehensive vocabulary for the diverse range of profiles found within the specialty coffee landscape.