This coffee is grown by Sixto Infante Gonzales at his 1.75-hectare farm, La Plata, located in the Hamlet of El Obraje in northern Peru. Situated at an extreme elevation of 2,208 meters, the farm cultivates Caturra and Bourbon varieties. The coffee undergoes a multi-stage fermentation process, including two days in sealed tanks as whole cherries, followed by depulping and an additional 72 hours of fermentation, before being washed and dried on raised beds. The flavor profile features notes of orange cream, apricot, cardamom sugar, and bergamot, characterized by bright acidity and a creamy body.
Rebecca Grossman and Lucas Smith founded Ilse in 2019, starting with a thousand dollars and a rented roaster in Stamford before building out their own facility in a converted mechanic's garage in North Canaan. The approach is quality-driven: light roasts, single-producer microlots, and a commitment to buying entire harvests from the same farms year after year, some relationships now stretch back to the beginning. Pricing is transparent; each bag lists what the producer was paid, the FOB price, and Ilse's cost. Sourcing focuses on Central and South America and East Africa, with Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Ethiopia appearing regularly.
