31Peru
3,315,000 bags (ICO 2009)In-depth country profile: production, varieties, classification, history, current situation and points still uncertain. Region: South America.
Peru ranks 8th in the world and exports most of its production, largely certified organic. Coffee growing extends over about 230,000 hectares, in almost all provinces, and supports 150,000 families, 80% of them on very small holdings of under two hectares.
The great change of the past decade is a change of governance. Peruvian coffee has gone from state management to a private association of exporters and producers (Camara).
The transfer mattered because it acted on two concrete levers. The association set quality standards, and it trained producers. That is where the recovery of the country's image comes from.
- Botanical species
- Arabica
- Altitude
- 600 to 1,800 m
- Shade
- Fruit and forest trees
- Harvest
- Manual and selective
- Processing
- Wet process (mainly)
- Preparation
- Screen grading
- Harvest period
- April to October and September to February
- Packaging
- 69 kg bag
Production altitude
| Description | Altitude |
| Good Washed (GW) | 700 m |
| Extra Good Washed (EG) | 700-850 m |
| Extra Prime Washed (EP) | 900-1,100 m |
| Semi Hard Bean (SH) | 1,100-1,200 m |
| Hard Bean (HB) | 1,200-1,400 m |
| Fancy Hard Bean (FHB) | 1,500-1,600 m |
| Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) | 1,600-1,700 m |
The grade
For European import, up to 22 defects tolerated on a 350 g sample.
| Grade | Max defects | Screen / moisture |
| Grade 1 | 15 | 50% min > screen 15; 5% max < 14; Superior Cup |
| Grade 2 | 23 | 5% max < screen 14; moisture 10-12% |
| Grade 3 | 30 | 50% min > screen 15; moisture 10-12.5% |
| Grade 4 | 35 | 50% min > screen 15; moisture ≤ 13% |
| Grade 5 | 40 | No screen limit; moisture ≤ 13% |
The screen is measured from 13 to 20 (1 unit ≈ 0.4 mm). Without a screening indication, “AA” = large bean (screen 18), “A” = medium bean (screen 16).
History
In the world table of 1922, Peru is a marginal origin: 370,655 pounds exported in 1919, for a five-year average of 455,212, or ten times less than neighboring Ecuador. All of its coffee history is therefore recent.
Ukers 1922, ch. XXII, p. 289-291 (exports of the producing countries), p. 290Peru is one of the three countries whose loss in the Big Rust, the great rust epidemic of those years, has been quantified. Its production fell by 39% over the 2012-2013 episode.
Two neighbors did worse: El Salvador, with minus 57%, and Mexico, with minus 46%. Peru thus comes just behind them in this ranking of damage.
The response explains why the country comes up so often in the varietal literature. With Guatemala and Costa Rica, it became one of the three sites of pre-commercial F1 hybrid trials. These hybrids are first-generation crosses between two distinct parents, trialed in response to the epidemic.
LC ch. 16; PROMECAFÉToday
The volume at the head of the profile, 3,315,000 bags, is that of the profile (ICO 2009). It is therefore old. The USDA has since announced a rebound of 8%, to 4.2 million bags for the 2025-2026 season, but that is a forecast, not a survey.
The orchard comes down to two main varieties: Typica for 70% and Caturra for 20%, the other varieties sharing the remaining 10%. Brazilian Mundo Novo is also widely planted there.
Cultivation is tiered between 600 and 1,800 meters. Harvesting is manual and selective, and processing is mainly by the wet process, the one in which the bean is pulped and washed before drying.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; USDA FAS, Coffee: World Markets and Trade, June 2026; World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Mundo Novo profileCoffee growing covers about 230,000 hectares in almost all provinces and supports 150,000 families, 80% of them on holdings of under two hectares, largely certified organic. The striking change of the past decade is the move from state management to a private association of exporters and producers, which set quality standards and trained producers.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Gray areas
- The date of introduction of coffee to Peru is not given by the sources consulted.
- The exact name and founding date of the private association that replaced state management are not documented in the corpus.
- The figure of 4.2 million bags for 2025-2026 is a forecast, not a survey.
- The share of the Peruvian orchard replanted after the Big Rust is not quantified.