JOSE RIVERA / PERU

Country: Peru
Producer: Jose Enrique Rivera (nicknamed “Pepe”)
Farm: El Rejo
Region: Cajamarca > Jaen > San Jose del Alto
Variety: Marshell
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1721 m a.s.l.
Harvest: 2024

Jose Rivera—affectionately known as “Pepe”—is a coffee producer and exporter based in Jaén, in the northern Cajamarca region of Peru. He and his wife, Mariagracia, run Origin Coffee Lab (OCL), an exporter renowned for sourcing and exporting some of the highest-quality specialty coffees in the country.

Peru has long produced a significant volume of certified coffees, including organic lots. While its global coffee production ranked 20th in 2014, by 2023 it had climbed to 8th place. However, despite this growth, the domestic supply chain lacked transparency, and many high-quality coffees were historically blended into large lots for commodity or certification markets. Thanks to the efforts of local producers, exporters, and companies like OCL, this situation has been steadily improving.

Pepe’s most important mission is to educate farmers about the true value of their coffee and encourage better production practices that lead to long-term, sustainable profitability. He focuses on improving producer profit margins and providing comprehensive agricultural training—covering both sustainable processes and viable business models—aiming to bring lasting change to the communities where he grew up.

He often explains that sustainable coffee production requires proper participation in the market. Producers frequently ask him which varieties to plant. In response, he calculates expected yield per hectare and related costs for each variety, helping producers plan farm work to ensure that their labor results in actual profit.

El Rejo is a 1-hectare farm in San Jose del Alto, located at 1,750–1,800 meters above sea level. Pepe started this project alongside his exporting work as a way to better understand sustainable coffee production firsthand. He participates in a small “comité” called La Palestina, where 18 producers work individually on their farms while collaborating on cultivation and processing efforts. At El Rejo, Bourbon is the main variety, intercropped with banana trees, and he is also experimenting with Marshell, SL9, and Ethiopian varieties.

FUGLEN first purchased coffee from OCL in 2020, and over the years we have met Pepe and Mariagracia at various coffee events. In autumn 2024, our Tokyo team visited them in Peru for the first time.