Junín (Selva Central)

Junín’s Selva Central, the jungle valleys of Chanchamayo and Satipo, was for decades the heart of Peruvian coffee: the biggest region, with large estates and the most coffee land in the country. Then, from 2013, leaf rust swept through its lower and middle slopes. Junín still grows about a fifth of Peru’s coffee, but it has lost its lead to the north.

The short version

• The Selva Central: Chanchamayo and Satipo, in central Peru.
• About 19% of Peru’s coffee (USDA); 67,400 t of parchment coffee in 2024.
• Once Peru’s biggest region, with about 110,000 hectares in 2013.
• Hit hard by leaf rust: 90,257 hectares damaged in 2023.
• Clean, Fair Trade organic coffees, around 82 points.

What does Junín coffee taste like?

Clean. The importer Sustainable Harvest describes the Selva Central’s coffee as clean cups, closely tied to Peru’s Fair Trade organic (FTO) coffee, scoring around 82 points. In 2013, 35% of the coffee land in Satipo and Chanchamayo was certified organic and another 15% was in conversion, according to the local coffee round table, cited by Agraria.pe.

Where is it grown?

In the jungle valleys of the Selva Central, in the provinces of Chanchamayo and Satipo. Chanchamayo’s coffee districts are Pichanaki, Perené, San Ramón, Vítoc, San Luis de Shuaro and La Merced, which have been working with Indecopi towards a denomination of origin for Chanchamayo coffee, Andina reports.

How much coffee does it grow?

Less than it used to:

Year	Figure	Source
2013	About 110,000 ha in Satipo and Chanchamayo, about 1.76 million quintales a season, “the main producing zone in the country”	Satipo-Chanchamayo coffee round table, via Agraria.pe
2024	67,400 t of parchment coffee, third in Peru	Agriculture ministry, via Revista Economía
Now	About 19% of Peru’s production, third	USDA

Before the rust, the Selva Central was the biggest region, known for volume, quality and large private estates, Sustainable Harvest says; estates of 100 hectares have shrunk to 10–20.

Leaf rust

Rust changed Junín. In 2013, it hit about 70,000 hectares of the susceptible varieties Typica, Caturra and Bourbon in Satipo and Chanchamayo, and growers went on strike to demand help. It came back in 2023: in July, the plant-health agency Senasa found 90,257 hectares damaged, 39% of the coffee in the two provinces, though the head of the Chanchamayo coffee federation put it at 80%, mostly in farms around 1,200 metres, El Búho reported. Growers blame rising temperatures, which make the lower slopes less suitable for coffee.

When is it harvested?

Peru’s harvest runs from April to September, peaking in June and July, USDA says.

Junín and other Peruvian origins

• Coffee in Peru: the whole country, its harvest and its organic coffee.
• Cajamarca: the northern region that took the lead.
• San Martín: Peru’s biggest region by the ministry’s count.