Cusco spent five days smelling like a roastery. From November 2 to 6, the former Inca capital hosted the 10th edition of FICAFÉ, Peru's national coffee fair, pulling in producers from 17 regions, international buyers, baristas and curious drinkers. Alongside the cupping tables, the fair crowned national champions and — for the first time — ranked the country's best coffee shops.
The competitions delivered genuine drama. Milania Huamanguillas, representing Inkahuasi, won the Cup Tasters Championship by identifying five coffee origins from eight mystery cups in under four minutes — the first woman to take the national title since Esther Requejo, ending a 14-year drought. She and Brewers Cup winner Nicolle Flores, a young Cusco brewer, now head to the World Coffee Championships in Bogotá. Flores swept the podium for her café, Three Monkeys Coffee, taking gold with a self-developed brewing method called Aira, which runs water through two connected coffee beds.
On the farming side, Fidel Huancas Huancas of Chirinos, Cajamarca, topped the Cup of Excellence with a washed Geisha from Finca La Esperanza scoring 91.71 points. Five coffees crossed the 90-point Presidential threshold, and the awards were handed out at Machu Picchu — a fitting link between Peru's highland farms and its most famous ruins.
The newcomer of the year was the café ranking: 60 shops selected from 82 entries, tied to The World's 100 Best Coffee Shops list. Arequipa's Kafi Wasi Café Tostaduría took first place, with Cusco's Three Monkeys second and Lima's Origen Tostadores de Café third. The top 20 spans the whole country — Lima dominates by volume, but Ayacucho, Huancayo, Oxapampa, Chiclayo, Trujillo, Pucallpa and even Machu Picchu Pueblo all feature.
Why should a traveller care? Because Peru's specialty coffee identity is finally visible on the ground, not just in export bags. If you're travelling to Cusco or the Sacred Valley, you can now plan a genuine café crawl: Three Monkeys, Manos Campesinas, Citadino and Café D'Wasi in Cusco, plus Ollantay Café and Coffee Bike right by Machu Picchu. Arequipa, Lima and Ayacucho have their own standouts worth detouring for. Next year's fair moves to Oxapampa, the coffee-growing Selva Central town that's quietly becoming a destination in its own right — worth pinning for late 2027 if you want to meet growers face to face.
