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By K.C. O'Keefe
Our respect for Manuel Cochunaupa began in our first contract meeting with the Café Selvanica farmers in January 2000. About halfway through the meeting, we came to a roadblock in the conversati on and Manuel stood up and spoke to the farmers in their native Quechuan tongue. We couldn't understand what he said, but things moved along easily after his speech. Soon after, we adopted the nickname "Angel" for Manuel.
Later that year, we were faced with watching our entire life's savings go over the Andes Mountains to the coast. Fear had struck us, since we were told that this road has one of the highest rates of highway robbery. That's when Manuel stepped up and decided to take the three-day journey with the coffee and give us a bit more insurance from any unethical business the drivers might be involved in. He has since taken two more of these trips.
In 2001, we noticed that Manuel had applied all of our suggestions to his farm in order to improve his coffee. His neighbors also took notice, and elected him president of the community in late 2001. Shortly after he took the presidency, he invited our roasters to come and participate in the first-ever Coffee Harvest Festival. His leadership brought the celebration to reality in June of 2002.
Manuel's desire to lead by example led to even greater success for his quality coffee. Before the harvest festival in June 2002, we held a private blind cupping with our clients. To our surprise, Manuel turned out to be the best Café Selvanica farmer! Just a few months later, in September 2002, Manuel entered his coffee in the regional cupping competition of the Department of San Martin. He was honored to win the best cup of Northeastern Peru by a four-point spread over second place!
We are privileged to have the opportunity to purchase this coffee professional's harvest!
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