THE ONLY MAY RARE & DELICIOUS | Peru - Jon Raúl x Roast House

Roast House has always prioritized relationship coffees. That means buying from the same producers year-after-year aiming to grow their support through purchasing more coffees from a small group of producers vs. buying from a lot of different producers to flesh out the menu. Rutas del Inca is a perfect example of those values lived out. They're committed to organic coffee production, one of the primary drivers for Don Raúl and the 12 other founding members who started the cooperative in 2013. Over the 10+ years Roast House has been sourcing from them, it was a really unique experience for them to get to go and handpick single producer lots!

Don Raúl (IN THE INCREDIBLE HAT) is a founding member of the organic certified cooperative, Rutas del Inca, that RH has been sourcing coffee from since 2015. In 2025, Roast House had a chance to visit them in Querocoto, Peru and buy directly from his farm. Often his coffees contribute to the cooperative's total volume and are meticulously blended to make a "community lot." Since RH was there at the perfect time, they were able to separate out his coffee, pay a premium direct to Don Raúl and his family to source this anaerobic washed lot of Catuai! His farm sits at 2,000 masl with an insanely thick forest of coffee shrubs. He has his own wet and dry mill to process coffee immediately after picking, which is fairly extraordinary to see. This particular lot was processed by placing the freshly picked cherries into grain-pro bags right next to the shrubs, allowing them to ferment before being sent through the shiniest purple de-pulper. The seeds covered in mucilage are then dried on the mountainside before being transported by donkey down to the cooperative headquarters, a two-hour journey down the mountain. 
 

Roast House Coffee was founded in 2010 by Deborah Di Bernardo (sadly, Deborah passed away recently after a long-fought battle with cancer) with one clarified vision in mind: "source sustainably certified coffees exclusively". Today, they preserve her legacy by maintaining their commitment to certified specialty coffee producers.

They are a tiny company with limited reach, but having trusted producers, exporters and importers allows them to make a much bigger impact. Working closely with transparent partners creates an environment for discussion and decision-making that lines up with the commitment to paying sustainable wages throughout the supply chain. When you drink a cup of Roast House, you are supporting people fighting for a more sustainable specialty coffee industry.

By competing with the best roasters in the country, Roast House has gained inspiration to “steward the one planet we have, in a way that puts a damn good cup in your hand.”

GOLDEN BEAN AWARDS
Ride the Edge 2015
House Decaf 2015
Ethiopia Suke Quto 2018
Coast to Coast 2019

GOOD FOOD AWARDS
Guatemala Batzchocola 2014