In 1966, severe flooding of the Río Chócol forced the community of Chirimoto to leave their homes and move on foot into a new valley. What began as tragedy gave rise to Nuevo Chirimoto—a thriving new beginning built on the resilience and enduring spirit of its people.
The region lies within the Sierra Amazónica, a unique ecosystem between the Andes and the Amazon rainforest. Shaped by the Río Guayabamba, the valley stretches from 800 to 2,000 masl, offering both high productivity and remarkable biodiversity.
Although geographically part of San Martín, Nuevo Chirimoto is only connected by road to Amazonas. Governance is largely local, and culturally, the people identify strongly as Amazonian.
Flor del Café was founded in 2007 by a community of 50 producers and has since become a key driver of development in the valley. At a time when access to the outside world was extremely limited, the cooperative began building bridges to international markets—while preserving local traditions.
Back then, the only option to export coffee and earn a stable income was to join a cooperative in a distant city. “At that time, our community needed to make money. The registration fee of $500 was an unreachable amount, and transporting our coffee there was a big challenge,” says Tito Rodríguez, founder of Flor del Café.
Instead, they built their own path.
Shortly after its founding, the cooperative achieved organic certification (2008) and expanded by merging with local associations in 2013 and 2017. Today, Flor del Café unites 533 producers in the Valle Mashuyacu, with 40% women participation and another 25% of youth involvement, while a 100% are organic producers.
“In the early 2000s, I had to walk for two full days and stay overnight in small communities on the way, just to reach the road,” recalls Manolo, member of the directive board.
Even today, infrastructure remains fragile. There is little phone signal, and internet access is limited to a few restaurants and shops. The only road to Mendoza must be rebuilt every few months due to heavy rains.
Yet change is visible. What once took days now takes 3–4 hours. Roads are power. With Mendoza evolving into a specialty coffee hub, Flor del Café gained access to processing facilities, logistics, and international markets.
The Valle Mashuyacu is one of the most productive valleys in the region, but increasingly under pressure from mining companies seeking to acquire land for gold and other minerals.
Flor del Café’s response is clear: increase the value of the land through coffee. Together with Bishop Humberto Tapia of Chachapoyas and long-term German partner Allianza, the cooperative developed a strategy to strengthen the coffee value chain. A powerful example of how the cooperative is offering producers a real alternative to selling their land.
This vision led to the creation of a specialty pilot program, supporting 96 producing families with state-of-art processing infrastructure to lever their coffee quality. Producers received:
While the cooperative produces around 60 containers of coffee at 82–84 points, they already managed to produce 3 full containers at 85-86 points due to the new improvements. Manolo shares that by 2030 the want to reach a target of 10 containers with this quality. Alongside their effort to enhance their overall quality, Flor Del Cafe also started to initiate the production of high scoring micro lots.
The specialty program is a prime example of how Flor del Café facilitates investment, knowledge transfer, and long-term value creation within its community. But their efforts go beyond coffee alone. In their pursuit of improving livelihoods, the cooperative has built partnerships with various organizations addressing broader development goals.
Dollars per hectare
During our visit to Valle Mashuyacu, we were accompanied by Arafat from Root Capital, an investor focused on social and climate impact: “We look into projects to diversify dollars per hectare with various income streams to build sustainable livelihoods. Great coffee is the main driver—but it cannot be the only one.”
Flor del Café reflects this philosophy by combining quality improvement with diversified income strategies to strengthen resilience. Additional initiatives include reforestation projects, beekeeping programs, and interest-free credits that support members in expanding their livelihoods beyond coffee.
Life in Nuevo Chirimoto is shaped by its isolation, creating a strong reliance on self-sufficient living in harmony with nature.
Farmers cultivate crops such as peanuts, yuca, banana, and sugarcane, and raise livestock to sustain their households. Much of this production is not for sale, but for daily nourishment and independence. These practices are deeply connected to local traditions, where farming is not only an economic activity, but a way of life passed down through generations.
At the same time, Nuevo Chirimoto develops into a thriving community center. Tito Rodríguez, the cooperative’s founding president, opened his mini market where he sells imported goods. As he puts it: “These new opportunities are the fruit of our work on the field.”
Others follow similar paths. Silvia Rodríguez Ocampo, one of the founding members, used cooperative-supported credit to open a restaurant and small guesthouse. It was here that we were served juanes (a traditional dish made from rice, yuca, and pork) and easily one of the most memorable meals we had in the Amazonas.
During our journey, we witness many producers proudly sharing how they could finally send their kids to universities in Chachapoyas, Chiclayo, or Lima. These diversified livelihoods reflect a broader reality: Coffee is the foundation, but life here is built on a system of self-reliance, culture, and connection to the land.
During our visit, we met Doña Jheisy Orfita Torreón Culqui, one of Flor del Café’s partner producers.
Originally from Cajamarca, she moved to Nuevo Chirimoto over 15 years ago and now manages around 3 hectares of coffee. With support from the cooperative (including training, financing, and technical assistance) she has steadily improved her production, reaching around 3,500 kg of parchment.
“Coffee gives you stability. You know you can support your children and send them to school.”, she says.
Over time, the community has transformed its reality: from isolation to access, from volume to quality, and from external pressure to local opportunity. What once was a remote and disconnected region is now steadily building its place within the specialty coffee world.
For partners like Trabocca, Flor del Café offers more than coffee. It provides access to a highly remote and distinctive origin, rooted in a powerful story of change. At the same time, the cooperative is actively developing its specialty and microlot potential, creating new opportunities for differentiation while continuing to strengthen the value chain for its producers.