For Carolina Peralta, the founder of Florencia y Fortunata Café in Cusco, Peru, coffee has been intertwined with significant moments since childhood. Whenever she had good news, like achieving a high grade in school, her mother would take her to a local café to celebrate. This early association instilled in Peralta the idea that coffee was a symbol of joy and celebration.
After graduating from college, Peralta found herself working long hours at a large pharmaceutical company in Lima. During this time, she began frequenting a local coffee shop with a friend. This establishment became their “third place,” sparking her interest in the coffee industry. As she recently told DCN, “I started asking a lot of questions about the industry — the food, the coffee, and how much money you needed to open a business like this.”
A trip to Buenos Aires further fueled her passion. There, she witnessed a vibrant coffee shop culture, which made her wonder why Cusco, her hometown and a major tourist destination due to its proximity to Machu Picchu, lacked a similar coffee shop scene. Additionally, she noticed the scarcity of women in the Peruvian coffee shop workforce.
Eager to learn more about coffee production, Peralta journeyed to the Cajamarca region. There, she observed women actively involved in various aspects of coffee – related work, such as cooking, farming, and taking care of animals and children. This led her to question, “Why don’t we have that visibility on the coffee cup? In Peru, it’s el productor, el barista, el tostador. You never see a woman.”
This realization presented an opportunity for Peralta. She decided to open a coffee shop that would put women at the heart of its operations. In May 2021, Florencia y Fortunata Café opened its doors. Named after her grandmother and her grandmother’s sister, the café exclusively hires women and sources coffee directly from female producers. These producers are prominently featured on the coffee bags sold in the store.
However, Florencia y Fortunata Café is more than just a place to buy coffee. It’s a social enterprise with a clear mission: to bridge the gender gap in the coffee industry. The café team is committed to highlighting women’s work, not only within the café and on the coffee bags but also in their newly opened coffee lab and roastery, areas where women have traditionally been overlooked.
Recently, Florencia y Fortunata Café has entered into a collaboration with Hösėg, a Peruvian clothing brand that Peralta has admired for the past five years. Hösėg, which focuses on making a positive impact on communities and the environment, is opening two stores in Cusco, and Florencia y Fortunata will be supplying the coffee. “We are so happy about this collaboration,” Peralta said on the day the partnership was confirmed.
Peralta also invests in training her employees on gender norms and discrimination. Her aim is to enable them to confidently discuss their work and advocate for themselves in their daily lives. She hopes that Florencia y Fortunata will empower women, boost their self – confidence, and set a new standard for women working in the coffee industry.
When asked about what she loves most about coffee, Peralta responded, “For me, the thing I love most about coffee is the connections, the friends I have are very special to me… Coffee has opened my world, and I’m very grateful for that, for the diversity of people that I know.”
Regarding what troubles her about coffee, she expressed deep concerns: “I am thinking about the next generations. I am really troubled by the other side of coffee — the farm. I think we are going to have a crisis this year because of the water and the weather, and I don’t think people are prepared for that. I think people are disappointed about the work in coffee, about the farm, how expensive it is to get Gesha beans or the fermentation of coffee. I think we have lots of ideas about coffee shops and new ways to prepare for championships, but we have a big problem. Our conditions and salaries are really bad and nobody is talking about that in coffee. We have low salaries, a lot of exploitation, and there aren’t opportunities. We are in a bubble, and we need to talk more about that in my city.”
When pondering what she would be doing if not for coffee, Peralta said, “I would maybe be working in a big corporation, but I think more in the human resources area. I’ve discovered that I love to manage people, and I really enjoy when a person improves and gets more opportunities.”
Related Topics：
- Finding The Balance: The Evolving Landscape Of Coffee Chains
- Luckin Coffee Signs $500m Coffee Deal With Brazilian Government
- Government Launches Agricultural Expansion Initiative in Region One