Origin: Bolivia, Caranavi
Elevation: 1600 M.A.S.L.
Varietal: Geisha
Process: Anaerobic Washed
Producer: Agricafe (Rodriguez family)

Profile: Strawberry & Hibiscus, Juicy & Delicate

Bolivia has an interesting coffee history and although it was exporting close to 85,000 bags in the early 2000s, Bolivian coffees almost disappeared at the end of the last decade. It is therefore very difficult to find Specialty coffees from Bolivia these days.

Bolivian coffee harvest runs from April (below 1,000 masl) to October (up to 2,000 masl).

Agricafe is owned by the Rodriguez family, who started this business in 1986. At that time, the family used to rent wet mills in Caranavi region, buying cherries from 2,000 producers and in 2001 they built their current wet mill, called Buena Vista, in Caranavi. Very quickly a dry mill in la Paz was built and the family started exporting operations. In 2012, a few years after the national drop of production, they decided to buy land and start farming as well. They now have 8 farms in Caranavi region (60 ha) and 5 farms in Samaipata region (60 ha). This year, they have lost 2ha of farm in Samaipata because of heavy rains leading to landslides. Up to 300 people are working for the company at the peak season. They also hire agronomists from different countries as consultants every year. They produce coffee, process it at the wet mill then dry mill and export it themselves directly. They bet on a great vertical integration system to shorten the supply chain and make it more transparent and cost efficient. In 2019, they won the SCA Sustainability award in the category ‘Best Sustainable Business Model’.

Aside from experimenting a lot on the processing, the family is also investing a lot in agronomy research doing some trials with grafting and using different varieties (over 50). After a few years now they realised that the best results in the cup/field were given by Java and Geisha grafted on Robusta root systems. They are therefore already renovating some of their parcels with these plants.

An oenologist from Argentina is managing the wet mill this season and they are experimenting yeast use in processing. 

This lot is made of 100% Geisha from a couple of farms located in Caranavi, between 1500 and 1650 M.A.S.L. with native trees shade and patches of wild forest to help conserve the biodiversity in the farms.

The cherries have been harvested and taken to the Buena Vista mill on the same day of the harvest. 

This lot is a washed lot and the cherries have been processed with an anaerobic dry fermentation step after pulping the cherries. The parchment was then dried in mechanical dryers until it reached 12% of moisture content. This takes about 2 weeks.

The mechanical dryers are big drums heated up with wood logs, gas or electricity depending on the drum. When on sunbeds, coffee is moved every 30 min in the morning and every hour in the afternoon. When on the boxes, coffee is moved every hour. The temperature in the mechanical dryers never goes over 40 degrees Celsius and moisture content and temperature are controlled at all time with meters.

When they reach a moisture content of 12% and after a few hours of resting, all coffee is bagged with Ecotact and Jute/plastic bags and sent to the dry mill in La Paz with sample bags on the side. The lots sit there in parchment until they are prepared for export.

After milling, cupping and after making sure the moisture content is around 10%, the coffee is bagged in Ecotact and jute bags before being exported through Arica port in Chile.