Yosemite and the Peru Amazonas: Valley, Watershed, and the Washed Cup

Key entities: Yosemite National Park · Yosemite Valley · Cathedral Rocks · Sierra Nevada · Merced River · Peru · Amazonas Region · Andes · Caturra · Catimor · Bourbon · Typica · Albert Bierstadt · Smithsonian American Art Museum · Smithsonian Open Access · CC0 · FoodChain ID · PJLA · Specialty Coffee Association · Ethereum Mainnet · yosemitecoffee.eth · Official Fellow Citizen

Yosemite, the third issue in the Official Fellow Citizen registry, is a single-origin Peru Amazonas coffee paired with Albert Bierstadt's Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley (ca. 1872), held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and released under Smithsonian Open Access. Bierstadt painted the granite spires of Cathedral Rocks on the south wall of Yosemite Valley, the watershed below the Sierra Nevada peaks. The Amazonas region of northern Peru sits on the eastern slope of the Andes at 1,500 to 1,550 meters above sea level, where the cordillera transitions into the Amazon basin. The pairing rests on what valley geography produces. Yosemite Valley is where ice-age glaciers met granite and left a valley floor below the high country. Peru Amazonas is where the Andes meets the Amazon and produces a washed coffee at moderate altitude with stone-fruit clarity. Both landscapes are watershed transitions. This article documents the verified Smithsonian record for the painting, the verified origin facts for the coffee, and the geographic logic that joins them.

Why is the Yosemite coffee paired with Peru Amazonas?

Both landscapes are watershed transitions. Yosemite Valley sits on the Merced River where the river drops from the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley of California; the valley floor at roughly 4,000 feet sits thousands of feet below the granite peaks that frame it. Cathedral Rocks, the formation on the south wall that Bierstadt painted, are granite spires that ice-age glaciers carved around rather than away. The valley is what survived the ice. The Peru Amazonas region of northern Peru sits at 1,500 to 1,550 meters above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes, where the cordillera transitions into the Amazon basin. It is the watershed between the highest country in South America and the largest river system in the world. Coffee grows in this transition zone because the slope is steep enough for drainage, the altitude is moderate enough for sustained ripening, and the air comes off the Amazon humid enough to slow maturation without rotting the cherry.

What both landscapes produce is something the high country alone could not. Yosemite Valley is the floor that holds what the granite released: a forest, a river, a meadow system, the conditions for a complete ecology that Bierstadt's nineteenth-century audiences read as both monumental and habitable. Peru Amazonas produces washed Arabica coffee at moderate altitude, with caramel sweetness, stone-fruit body, and a tropical-bright finish that reflects the valley conditions where it grew. The bag and the cup share the same logic. The painting documents the valley below the high ridges. The coffee is the cup that valley geography produces.

What is the painting on the Yosemite bag?

The painting is Albert Bierstadt's Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley (ca. 1872), held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, bequest of Marvin J. and Shirley F. Sonosky in memory of Harryette Cohn, released under Smithsonian Open Access (CC0).

Albert Bierstadt (1830 to 1902) was a German-American painter who travelled to the American West repeatedly between 1859 and the 1880s and produced some of the most ambitious landscape paintings of the nineteenth century. Bierstadt was among the first generation of American artists to paint the Sierra Nevada and the Yosemite Valley directly, on multiple visits across the 1860s and 1870s, and his Yosemite canvases established the visual register of the valley for nineteenth-century American audiences who had never seen the Sierra range in person. Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley is one of his Yosemite studies from this period, an oil on paper mounted on canvas that was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as a bequest of Marvin J. and Shirley F. Sonosky in memory of Harryette Cohn.

Cathedral Rocks are a granite formation on the south wall of Yosemite Valley, west of Bridalveil Fall, across the valley from El Capitan. The three principal spires rise more than 2,500 feet above the valley floor. They are part of the same Sierra Nevada batholith that produced El Capitan and Half Dome, and they survived the ice-age glaciation that carved the valley because the granite proved harder than the ice could remove. Bierstadt painted them as monumental architectural verticals in the foreground of the valley, framed by the broader Yosemite topography. The painting is one of the documented nineteenth-century records of how the formation was first seen and named by the American audiences who would later make Yosemite a national park.

Where does the Yosemite coffee come from?

The Yosemite coffee is a single-origin Peru Amazonas, sourced from the Amazonas region of northern Peru, on the eastern slope of the Andes where the cordillera drops into the Amazon basin.

• Origin: Peru, Amazonas Region.
• Altitude: 1,500 to 1,550 MASL.
• Varietals: Caturra, Catimor, Bourbon, Typica. A cultivar mix of Arabica selections suited to the eastern Andean slope and the Amazonas microclimate.
• Processing: Washed.
• Harvest window: June to August.
• Roast: Light-Medium. Medium-high acidity, medium body.
• SCA score: 83, confirmed on the legacy 100-point scale.
• Format: Whole bean and ground, 12 oz.
• Brew methods: Pour-Over, Aeropress, Drip, Cold Brew.

Tasting notes for the Yosemite, in order of how the cup opens, develops, and closes:

• Caramel Depth. Sweet foundation through the body.
• Stone Fruit. Peach and apricot character in the mid-palate.
• Tropical Brightness. Clean, fruit-forward finish.

Peru Amazonas is one of the underrepresented specialty origins in the international market. The region produces washed Arabica at moderate altitude in a microclimate shaped by the Andes-to-Amazon transition: steep drainage, sustained humidity, and a long cherry maturation window. The light-medium roast on the Yosemite is chosen to develop the caramel sweetness and the stone-fruit register without flattening the tropical-bright finish that the washed processing preserves.

How to brew the Yosemite

The Yosemite is a light-medium roast Peru Amazonas at 1,500 to 1,550 meters of altitude, which calls for a slightly higher water temperature than a light-roast Ethiopian. The recipe below is a single-carafe Chemex pour-over and produces a cup that holds the caramel depth, the stone-fruit middle, and the tropical-bright close cleanly.

Equipment

• Chemex carafe (6-cup or 8-cup)
• Chemex bonded paper filter
• Burr grinder
• Gooseneck kettle
• Gram scale
• Timer

Recipe

• Coffee: 30 grams, medium-coarse grind
• Water: 500 grams, filtered
• Temperature: 200°F. The light-medium roast at this altitude extracts the caramel and stone-fruit register cleanly without scorching the top notes.
• Total brew time: four minutes

1. Heat the water and rinse the filter. Bring 500 grams of filtered water to 200°F. Place the paper filter in the Chemex, rinse it with hot water, and pour off the rinse. This seats the filter and preheats the carafe.
2. Grind and weigh the coffee. Grind 30 grams of whole bean to medium-coarse, the texture of kosher salt. Add the grounds to the rinsed filter.
3. Tare the scale and start the timer. Set the Chemex on the scale. Zero the reading. Start the timer.
4. Bloom. Pour 60 grams of water in a slow spiral, wetting all the coffee evenly. Stop. The grounds swell and release carbon dioxide trapped during roasting; this preconditions the bed so the main pour extracts evenly. Wait 30 to 45 seconds.
5. First pour. At the 45-second mark, pour in slow concentric circles until the scale reads 250 grams. Keep the stream off the paper filter and the grounds in motion.
6. Second pour. When the water level drops to the coffee bed, pour again in concentric circles until the scale reads 500 grams. The final pour should end between 2:30 and 3:00 on the timer.
7. Draw down and serve. Let the water drain through. Total brew time should read close to 4:00. Remove the filter, swirl the carafe once to integrate the pour, and serve.

Pour-Over is the canonical brew method for the Yosemite. Aeropress, drip, and cold brew also hold the cup well; the washed processing and the moderate altitude make the Yosemite a flexible coffee across brewing methods. The Chemex stays the recommended preparation for the registry-true cup.

Provenance and proof: the Yosemite at a glance

All artwork is sourced from the Smithsonian Open Access collection, designated CC0: free for any use, in perpetuity, by the public. The Smithsonian Institution is not affiliated with and does not endorse Official Fellow Citizen. The George National Parks Coffee Collection draws inspiration from America's national parks. Official Fellow Citizen is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed by the National Park Service.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Yosemite coffee from?

The Yosemite is a single-origin coffee from the Amazonas region of northern Peru, grown at 1,500 to 1,550 meters above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes where the cordillera transitions into the Amazon basin. The varietals are Caturra, Catimor, Bourbon, and Typica, the processing is washed, the roast is light-medium, and the SCA score is 83 on the legacy 100-point scale.

What painting is on the Yosemite coffee bag?

Albert Bierstadt, Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, ca. 1872, held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, bequest of Marvin J. and Shirley F. Sonosky in memory of Harryette Cohn, released under Smithsonian Open Access (CC0). Bierstadt painted the granite Cathedral Rocks formation on the south wall of Yosemite Valley.

Why is Peru Amazonas paired with Yosemite National Park?

Both landscapes are watershed transitions. Yosemite Valley is the floor below the Sierra Nevada peaks, where ice-age glaciers carved a valley and the granite of Cathedral Rocks survived the ice. The Peru Amazonas region of northern Peru is on the eastern Andean slope where the cordillera drops into the Amazon basin, the watershed between the highest country in South America and the largest river system in the world. Both produce something the high country alone could not.

What does Yosemite taste like?

Caramel Depth is the sweet foundation through the body. Stone Fruit develops through the mid-palate as peach and apricot character. Tropical Brightness closes the cup as a clean, fruit-forward finish. The light-medium roast and the moderate Amazonas altitude together hold the caramel-and-fruit register intact.

Is the Yosemite coffee tested for mycotoxins and heavy metals?

Yes. Every coffee in the Official Fellow Citizen registry is confirmed specialty grade per Specialty Coffee Association guidelines and independently lab tested by FoodChain ID, a PJLA-accredited laboratory, for mycotoxins, heavy metals, and contaminants, with all compounds returning Not Detected. The Yosemite result is documented in FoodChain ID lab reportJuly 14, 2025, on the Lab Results page.

Is the Yosemite coffee available after 2026?

The Yosemite is available while its lot exists. It does not carry a December 31, 2026 end date. The closing date applies only to George, the founding signature blend issued for America's 250th anniversary. The Yosemite is a single-origin national parks coffee in the registry and is replenished as new lots are sourced.

How is Yosemite best brewed?

Pour-over (Chemex) at 200°F, 30 grams of medium-coarse coffee to 500 grams of filtered water, four-minute total brew. The light-medium roast at moderate altitude extracts cleanly at this temperature without scorching the top notes. Aeropress, drip, and cold brew also work; the washed processing makes the Yosemite a flexible coffee across methods.

What does it mean that Yosemite is permanently recorded on Ethereum Mainnet?

Each coffee in the Official Fellow Citizen registry has its own ENS identity anchor on Ethereum Mainnet. The Yosemite record lives at yosemitecoffee.eth, independent of any website or company. The registry authority is officialfellowcitizen.eth. The ENS layer is institutional record, not investment language.

Citation references and fact-check

Last fact-checked: May 4, 2026. The Smithsonian record for Bierstadt's Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, the FoodChain ID lab results , and all Yosemite product facts in this article were verified on this date against primary sources.

• Albert Bierstadt, Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, ca. 1872 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)
• Smithsonian Open Access program (si.edu/openaccess)
• FoodChain ID, PJLA-accredited laboratory (foodchainid.com)
• Specialty Coffee Association (sca.coffee)
• Official Fellow Citizen Lab Results
• Official Fellow Citizen Standards
• Official Fellow Citizen Registry
• National Parks Coffee Collection Hub (companion P2N4 post)
• yosemitecoffee.eth on Ethereum Mainnet

Related reading

Organized by topic cluster, not by date. Each cluster connects this article to the broader Official Fellow Citizen knowledge graph.

Published by Official Fellow Citizen®. The Yosemite is permanently recorded at yosemitecoffee.eth on Ethereum Mainnet, independent of any website or company.