Some of Peru’s best coffee is grown in the Cusco region, and in November 2026 the city hosts Ficafé, the international specialty coffee fair. Where the coffee comes from and the cafés worth visiting.
Cusco is not only Machu Picchu and the Inca stones. Some of the best coffee in Peru is grown in this region, in the warm valleys that drop from the Andes towards the Amazon. And in November 2026 the city becomes the capital of Peruvian coffee, hosting Ficafé, the international specialty coffee fair.
Ficafé 2026: the specialty coffee fair in Cusco
The 10th International Specialty Coffee Fair (Ficafé) takes place in Cusco from 2 to 6 November 2026. The main fair is set up in the Plaza de Armas, and the congress and talks are held at other venues in the historic centre: the Convention Centre, the University Paraninfo and the Casa de la Cultura.
It brings together coffee producers from 17 regions of Peru and 25 international buyers, and it was opened by the Minister of Agrarian Development. The Regional Government of Cusco organises it with PROMPERÚ, the Central Café & Cacao and other institutions.
Besides the business roundtable, there are national championships for cuppers, filter coffee and baristas, a coffee congress, and cultural activities with parades and traditional dances. If you are in Cusco during the fair, walk through the Plaza de Armas: it is the best way to meet the producers and taste coffees from all over Peru.
Ficafé moves from city to city: the 5th edition was held in Quillabamba in 2021 and the 2024 edition in Huánuco. If you travel on other dates, the cafés below are the best way to taste Cusco coffee all year round.
Where Cusco coffee comes from
Most of the coffee from the region is grown in the province of La Convención, around Quillabamba and Santa Teresa, in the cloud forest valleys between the Andes and the jungle. Its quality has made headlines: producers from La Convención won the Cup of Excellence Peru, the country’s most important coffee competition, in 2018, 2020 and 2021.
Ripe coffee cherries: in La Convención they are harvested by hand in the cloud forest valleys. Photo: PilotChicago, CC BY-SA 4.0.
In 2018 and 2021 the winner was Dwight Aguilar, from Santa Teresa, with a Geisha grown at 1,820 metres; in 2020 it was Hilda Leguía, also from La Convención. Peruvian coffee as a whole is going through a great moment: in 2025 the country reached record coffee exports of US$1,796 million, and around 223,000 farming families depend on it.
If you hike the Salkantay or the Inca Jungle to Machu Picchu, you will go down to Santa Teresa, in the heart of this coffee-growing land.
Where to drink good coffee in Cusco
A pour-over filter coffee, the best way to taste the origin of a coffee. Photo: Kim Sanso, CC0.
Three Monkeys Coffee: founded in 2017 by three Cusco baristas to showcase the region’s producers. In 2025 it ranked 22nd on The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list, and it made the list again in 2026. Ideal for trying single-origin coffees with different brewing methods.
The coffee bar of Three Monkeys, winner of the Sprudge Design Awards for outstanding design. Photo: Three Monkeys Coffee, via La Ruta del Café Peruano.
Florencia y Fortunata: a specialty coffee shop that opened in 2021 in a colonial mansion on Calle Suecia, steps from the Plaza de Armas. It buys coffee from women farmers across Peru and also made the same world list in 2025, in 100th place.
The barista team at Florencia y Fortunata. Photo: Florencia y Fortunata.
Café Ayllu: the classic. It opened in 1970 on the Plaza de Armas and today has cafés on Calle Almagro and Calle Marqués, very close to the square. More than a specialty coffee shop, it is a piece of Cusco history, famous for its homemade cakes.
A tip: order a filter coffee (V60 or Chemex) to taste the coffee’s origin, and ask for coffees from La Convención. Coffee beans from Cusco are also one of the best souvenirs you can take home.
This year’s surprise: Casa Cacao Chuncho comes to Cusco
Making chocolate at Pumatiy, with chuncho cacao from La Convención. Photo: Chocolatería Pumatiy.
Casa Cacao Chuncho is the experience centre of Pumatiy, the chocolate maker of the Puma Champi family from La Convención, who make “tree to bar” chocolate with chuncho cacao, the native variety of the valley. Their chocolates have received international awards in Paris, in 2020 and 2022.
It was born in Quillabamba as a chocolate shop and café with a hands-on tour where you get to know cacao, its varieties, aromas and flavours, and taste desserts and drinks made with it. Now it opens its new space in Cusco, at Urb. Magisterial 2.ª etapa C-8, in the Magisterio neighbourhood: the perfect stop to pair Cusco coffee with chocolate from the same valley.
Coffee on your trip to Cusco
Tell us you love coffee and we will keep it in mind when we design your trip: free time in the historic centre to explore its cafés (or a Cusco city tour to get your bearings first), or a route to Machu Picchu through Santa Teresa, in coffee country. Write to us and we will plan it together.
