Ruby: Creamery Seasonal Blend

Keyla Montenegro’s coffee farm represents her family's livelihood: they grow plantains and farm chickens both to sell and to eat, but coffee farming is what allows for a profitable income. Many farmers in Peru actually came to farming coffee late: in the deeper jungles, many farmers tried growing sugarcane to sell, or relied mostly on subsistence farming.

Coffee presented a new opportunity: a crop that was relatively well suited to the climate and environment could also be sold for a sold to an international audience for a profit. The hardest part for most coffee farmers in this business model is finding a buyer.

Keyla’s coffee came to Ruby through an exporter who works in the jungles of Jaen to help connect coffee roasters to farmers. This exporter often travels to visit various coffee farms to observe different practices and better understand the challenges of farmers in the area. To Keyla, it’s important that people see how much hard work it takes to produce high quality coffee.

Keyla is proud of the work her family does: by partnering with a new importer, she’s been able to evaluate her profit margins and make adjustments for the future. That last step has allowed her to feel excited about the future and about investing in coffee farming.