From our friends at Falcon Coffee: 

“San José de Lourdes, in San Ignacio, Cajamarca, is a highland district of smallholder farms strung along ridges and humid valleys near the Ecuadorian border. Elevation, regular rainfall and mixed agroforestry (with plenty of native shade) support slow ripening and the sweet, clean profiles for which the area is known. 

We receive small, day-to-day parchment deliveries from communities across San José de Lourdes into our Falcon Coffees warehouse in Jaén. Every delivery is put through physical analysis and a cupping. As soon as a lot is cupped, we make a same-day price offer and pay the producer by instant bank transfer. Keeping the loop between delivery, evaluation and payment this tight supports on-farm cash flow and ensures quality—on both physicals and cup score—sets the price.” 

Quick note on the instant bank transfer thing- this is actually a big deal in the coffee world. When you think about coffee producers you have to think in terms of the economics of agriculture. Investing in your farm with, say a new processing technique, pruning, or even a whole new varietal means taking a very, very long outlook on things. It’s often years before you start to see any return on an investment (if any!) because of how long it takes to grow a crop and see if what you did changed anything. And if you aren’t sitting on a pile of cash, that means taking out some sort of loan which, presumably, you are paying interest on. As such, producers are constantly strapped for cash since all their money is, usually, just sitting in a field. This makes access to capital super appealing to anyone trying to produce specialty coffee. It leaves a lot of room for exploitation from those that play hard ball with producers, offering lower prices in exchange for quicker payments. As such, Falcon is showing that they can cup coffees on the ground and then offer higher prices AND quicker payments for nicer scoring lots. No system is perfect but it helps when you can start chipping away at systems that tend to not reward those taking the biggest risk in the supply chain. 
 
In terms of cup quality we are pleasantly surprised. Lots of sweetness with a little bit of tart apple acidity and some dried fruit- this is the very definition of a mild, comforting cup of coffee and deserves a place in your daily drinker line-up.  

Enjoy!