[360 ° video] Producing organic coffee and cocoa in Peru

You are inside the Urubamba Cooperative coffee and cocoa processing plant in the Southern Peru town of Quillabamba.

Coffee and cocoa produced by small land owners is brought here to be processed or stocked.

Here you can see how the cocoa beans are selected depending on their size. The bigger beans are more expensive.

The cooperative buys and sells two cocoa varieties, “Chuncho”, the local variety, and hybrid. Hybrid is good for quantity, but if you’re looking for quality you want Chuncho. These plants grow higher and they’re more difficult to harvest but they produce a wider variety of aromas, and more fat, perfect for chocolate production.

Peru ranks 8th among the main world cocoa producing countries. Around 15–25% of its coffee producers belong to cooperative organizations linked with international Fair Trade networks.