Peru NUEVO PROGRESO from Coffee Collective is a coffee roasted for drip brewing. In the cup, it is round, balanced, and sweet, with a flavor profile of milk chocolate, cocoa nibs, and nougat. It’s exactly the type of filter coffee that doesn’t rely on bold, wild fruitiness, but rather on clean sweetness, a smooth body, and a deeper, chocolate-nutty impression. You can expect a calm, sweet, and beautifully smooth cup that works as an everyday filter coffee with a slightly more luxurious finish.
Behind the coffee is Lucio Luque, a producer from the Nuevo Progreso farm in the Amaybamba region of the Incahuasi Valley in Cusco, Peru. The coffee grows at a very high altitude of around 2,230 meters, where cool nights slow down the ripening of the coffee cherries. This gives the fruit more time to concentrate its sugars, which translates into a pronounced sweetness and deeper notes of dried fruit in the cup. Farms in the region also benefit from rich volcanic soil and cold water from a nearby glacier, which contributes to the clarity and sweetness of the resulting coffee.
Nuevo Progreso consists of Bourbon and Typica varieties, two traditional Arabicas that often yield a clean, sweet, and elegant flavor profile. Processing is done using the washed method directly on the farm. At such a high altitude, stable conditions contribute to the precision and consistency of the resulting cup. Here, the washed process doesn’t come across as sharp or overly citrusy, but rather allows the coffee’s roundness, sweetness, and chocolate-nougat character to shine through. Lucio Luque is also a producer with a very strong reputation—he has consistently placed highly in the Cup of Excellence, even taking second place in 2019.