Bolivia's Coffee Producing Regions: Yungas and Caranavi
Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America that produces a small amount of coffee. Its specialty beans grow at extremely high altitudes and in unique microclimates. The main coffee producing regions are Yungas and Caranavi. Yungas sits in the Andean foothills east of La Paz, with steep terrain and difficult roads. Caranavi lies north of Yungas at a lower elevation. Both regions yield distinctive flavors because of their geography.
The Java variety coffee has spread in Bolivia, thanks to local growing conditions and the efforts of farmers. The Sol de Mañana program, started by the Rodriguez family, helped save the specialty coffee industry. Front Street Coffee shares roasting and brewing parameters for the Coco Natural Java from Finca Waliki. Its cupping notes include a slight fermented note, grapes, and interwoven floral aromas. For more specialty coffee knowledge, follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee.
Bolivia, as a landlocked country in South America, produces only a small amount of coffee, yet it boasts specialty beans nurtured by extremely high altitudes and unique microclimates. This article takes you through the historical origins of Bolivian coffee, the flavor differences between its main producing regions Yungas and Caranavi, the story of how the local distinctive variety Java spread, and an in-depth analysis of how the "Sol de Mañana" program initiated by the Rodriguez family saved the specialty coffee industry. Front Street Coffee also shares the roasting and brewing parameters for the Coco Natural Java from Finca Waliki, along with its cupping notes of a slight fermented note, grapes, and interwoven floral aromas.
For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
Among coffee-producing countries in the Americas, Bolivia has always had a low profile, and its beans are rarely seen on the market. So, how good is this country's coffee quality? Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has been keeping an eye on this producing region, and next we'll talk about the coffee story behind this low-key South American producer.
Bolivia the Country
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, a landlocked nation bordering Brazil and Colombia. Bolivian coffee Its origins can be traced back to 1880, when production was almost entirely in the hands of a few large farm owners north of La Paz. In 1991, the government launched a program to encourage indigenous people to grow coffee, but quality was not given an important place. Bolivia's coffee history is quite interesting: although it has the potential to become a major coffee exporter, its output has always been minimal, its growing conditions are excellent, yet the challenges are exceptionally severe, and ultimately, on this extremely difficult land, an especially rich agricultural history has been nurtured.
Coffee Producing Regions
Yungas
Yungas is located in the Andean foothills directly east of La Paz, a rugged agricultural producing region. The roads to Yungas are treacherous, making it very difficult to transport coffee out. But setting aside these disadvantages, the coffee from this region is uniquely distinctive, because it has a one-of-a-kind microclimate and incredibly high altitudes. The world's highest-altitude coffee farm, Finca Takesi, is located here, at an elevation of 2,500 meters.
La Paz Caranavi
Caranavi is located north of Yungas, also in the Andean foothills, but at a lower altitude than Yungas. Caranavi's average elevation is 1,500 meters, so the coffee produced here is slightly less complex, with more pronounced chocolate flavors.
Copacabana
Copacabana is located in the western part of the country, near Lake Titicaca. The humid air of this producing region provides excellent conditions for coffee growth. Lake Titicaca is also one of the world's highest-altitude lakes, with an average annual surface temperature of about 10-14 degrees Celsius, which means coffee from this region inherently has advantages in altitude and temperature.
Bolivia's main coffee-producing region is the Yungas area, where infrastructure is backward and large-scale wet-processing plants are lacking. After the coffee ripens, farmers pick the fully ripe cherries and must immediately transport them to higher-altitude La Paz for processing, and the road from Yungas to La Paz is steep and dangerous, known as the "Death Road." During transport, the coffee cherries easily ferment and rot, producing pungent and other undesirable odors.
Coffee Bean Varieties
Although there is also a small amount of Caturra, the vast majority of coffee plants grown in Bolivia are Typica. Of course, Bolivia also grows a special variety—Java. Locals call it "long bean" because of its elongated bean shape, but its formal name should be Java. Java is a very interesting bean variety; judging by the name, it seems closely related to Indonesia, but in fact Java was originally a coffee tree species from the primitive forests of Ethiopia, collected by local ethnic groups, then passed through Yemen to Indonesia, where it was named Java. In the past, it was generally believed that Java was a variety of Typica, but genetic comparison revealed that Java actually comes from the Ethiopian coffee variety Abysinia.
After reaching Indonesia, the Java variety first spread to the nearby Timor island group, and then to Cameroon in East Africa, where it was first released to farmers for cultivation in 1980. As for its introduction to Central and South America, under the leadership of breeding expert Benoit Bertrand, it was introduced to Costa Rica in 1991 through CIRAD (the Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement). The first Central American country to officially recognize the Java variety was Panama. Java's fruit and seeds are both long, its young shoots are brass-colored, and the plant is quite tall, but its yield is low. Because of its outstanding flavor, which rivals Geisha, and its stronger resistance to leaf rust and coffee berry disease, it is very suitable for smallholder farmers to grow.
Bolivian Coffee Regional Flavors
Coffee produced in Bolivia's high-altitude regions typically has a deep and full sweetness, soft citrus acidity, and layered black fruit and berry flavors. In relatively lower-altitude producing regions, the coffee shows a balanced mouthfeel, excellent chocolate sweetness, soft acidity, and malt and dried fruit flavors.
Coffee Processing Methods
Bolivian farmers mainly use the washed method to process green beans: the sorted coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp; the green beans with residual pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation, the green beans with parchment are washed in a flowing water channel to remove the pulp and mucilage; after washing, the beans are sun-dried, or a dryer is used to dry the beans, bringing the moisture content down to about 12%. Finally, the parchment of the green beans is removed.
Some producing regions occasionally use natural processing as well. It is worth mentioning that because Bolivia's climate is colder than that of other coffee-origin countries, many farmers use machine drying rather than sun drying, which created a new natural processing method—Coco Natural. Previously, cocoa dryers had never been seen used for coffee bean processing, but Pedro of the Rodriguez family has always been innovating and trying different processing techniques. He discovered that cocoa dryers can dry coffee beans slowly and continuously at low temperatures, thereby reducing the impact of weather conditions. After the coffee beans are dried, they are transported to La Paz to rest, and then hulled at Agricafe's dry mill La Luna. This plant uses machinery for careful coffee hulling and sorting, and in addition, manual sorting is required under ultraviolet and natural light.
What Is the Sol de Mañana Program?
In recent years, Bolivian coffee production has continued to decline, and several factors have contributed to this decline. First, coffee competes with the local coca industry. Coca is easier to harvest, yields year-round, and brings farmers higher profits. But in the long run, coca plantations have had a devastating impact on the land and communities. Untouched rainforest is often illegally destroyed to grow coca, and the lack of shade trees has led to severe soil erosion. To increase crop yields, coca growers overuse fungicides, and over time the soil becomes barren and the land is gradually abandoned.
Second, the lack of a central institution to support and promote coffee production has also threatened the vitality of Bolivia's coffee trade. Unlike other coffee-producing countries such as Guatemala and Brazil, Bolivian coffee producers receive no support from the government or national agricultural institutions. As if these blows were not enough, in 2013 leaf rust ran rampant (a mold that attacks coffee leaves, preventing the coffee trees from photosynthesizing). In that year alone, Bolivia lost nearly 50% of its coffee production. Taken together, these factors have reduced Bolivia's coffee production by 70% over the past decade, turning it into a minor coffee-producing country.
In order not to let these wonderful flavors disappear, the Rodriguez family, one of the main forces in Bolivian specialty coffee, began helping coffee farmers improve coffee quality and thereby increase profits, which gave rise to the "Sol de Mañana" program. The Rodriguez family provides thorough technical guidance in variety selection, cultivation, harvesting, and other aspects, and has established large processing plants to help smallholders complete the processing, along with subsequent sales, export, and other services, greatly increasing smallholders' enthusiasm and income levels, and preserving with practical action Bolivia's sharply declining specialty coffee industry.
How Does the Sol de Mañana Program Work?
Every month, the Rodriguez family visits all members of the Sol de Mañana program, providing them with personalized technical assistance and agricultural advice; even the simplest advice can be of great help. As the coffee farmers' production capacity continues to improve, the Rodriguez family emphasizes to them that they should continue to focus on quality rather than quantity. They are also teaching coffee farmers to take good care of what they have and make full use of it to maximize production. The Rodriguez family also holds workshops throughout the year with top agronomists. These workshops allow coffee farmers to meet one another, share their experiences, and discuss ways to solve the problems they encounter.
What Are the Results of the Sol de Mañana Program?
2017 was the first production year of the Sol de Mañana program, and the Rodriguez family was very satisfied with the output results. Coffee production doubled, reaching about 20 bags per hectare, and the number of program members expanded from the initial 10 to 50. The Sol de Mañana program requires the Rodriguez family to invest a great deal of money, time, and resources. But they sincerely believe in the potential of Bolivian coffee, and the Rodriguez family cares deeply about and supports coffee farmers in realizing their potential and improving their lives.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Bolivia Finca Waliki Coco Natural Java
Coffee region: La Paz
Coffee farm: Finca Waliki Growing altitude: 1,600 meters Coffee variety: Java Processing method: Coco Natural
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Roasting Analysis
For this batch of Coco Natural Java coffee, Front Street extended the development period to highlight the natural sweetness and cocoa aroma, roasting out a sweet and delicious flavor. Taking the Yangjia 800N as an example, 500g of green beans was used.
Charge at a drum temperature of 170°C, with a gas setting of 120 and airflow opened to 3; the turning point was at 1'36", and when the drum temperature reached 111°C, the airflow was opened to 4 and the gas adjusted to 140; when the drum temperature reached 151.1°C, the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, and the drying phase began; at 7'56", the bean surface showed ugly wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toasty bread aroma clearly turned into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack, so the airflow was adjusted to 5. At this point, you need to listen clearly for the sound of first crack; first crack began at 10'18", developed for 1'00" after first crack, and the beans were dropped at 190°C.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Parameters
Dripper: HARIO V60
Water temperature: 90°C
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: caster sugar size
Use 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a slow circular stream until 125 grams for a stage break; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 grams and stop; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper, (timing starts from the beginning of the bloom) with a total extraction time of 2'00".
Flavor description: Slight fermented note, grapes, slight nuts, floral aroma, medium acidity, juicy mouthfeel.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
