The Rubio family has been farming coffee on the same land for generations. Consuelo's father-in-law originally managed the coffee fields for the owner of a large estate in the region. In 1969, the Peruvian government initiated agrarian reforms, which split up the vast estates (held by a group of elite and powerful landowners at the time) and redistributed the land to the rural workers. Following these reforms, the Rubio family had the opportunity to purchase a small parcel of the land which they had previously managed. In the 1990s, Consuelo and her husband began planting coffee trees on the farm, with an initial focus on cultivating Typica, Caturra and Timor.  

The family’s production of Sidra as their flagship varietal resulted from a series of lucky events. In the early 2000s, a friend gifted the family five Sidra plants that he had collected from a trip to Ecuador. The Rubio family forgot about the gift, only rediscovering the plants years later while Consuelo’s late husband was on a walk through the farm. Unlike the family’s other varietals – which had been affected by a leaf rust outbreak that year (a disease affecting coffee plants) – the small cluster of Sidra plants was in beautiful condition. Mystified, he sowed the seeds and the coffee’s unique profile blew him away. It was only after further research that the family connected the dots and recalled their friend’s gift from Ecuador!

We were introduced to the Rubio family in 2022 and spent some time on their impeccable estate then and in 2024 – as you can see from our drone footage, the meticulous care they have taken in cultivating their plants is a sight to behold!  This is the third harvest that we have purchased from Consuelo and we're excited about continuing to work together as they remain at the forefront of progressive coffee production in Peru.