Why is Bolivia's Coffee Production So Low? The Story and Flavor Characteristics of Bolivian Coffee Beans

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Introduction to Bolivian Coffee

South America is rich in coffee beans. Besides the well-known Brazilian and Colombian coffees, FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce another South American country that produces high-quality coffee beans today—Bolivia. Bolivian coffee beans differ from Brazil's low-altitude growing environment. FrontStreet Coffee believes that altitude has a crucial impact on coffee flavor. Bolivian coffee has rich and unique aromas. Whether it's the fragrance of ground beans or the aroma of brewed coffee, it's remarkably intense and rich, similar to a blend of floral and fruity notes that leaves a lasting impression.

Bolivian Coffee History

Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America, bordering Brazil and Colombia. Bolivia's capital, La Paz, has an altitude exceeding 3,600 meters, making it the world's highest capital city. Bolivia is indeed the world's poorest coffee-producing country, even poorer than Ethiopia. Besides lacking ports, the local government's high level of corruption is also a reason for the country's extreme poverty.

The origins of Bolivian coffee can be traced back to 1880, when all production was basically related to owners of some large farms north of La Paz. In 1991, the government promoted a plan for indigenous people to engage in Bolivian coffee cultivation, but quality was not emphasized.

For Bolivian coffee farmers, the most significant problem has always been their difficulty in earning enough money to support long-term coffee cultivation. To supplement the insufficient income from coffee, they must grow other crops, primarily coca leaves. Coca leaves can be used to produce cocaine, and growing coca is legal in Bolivia. With government encouragement, coca leaves generate four times the profit of coffee and are much easier to grow, causing many farmers to abandon coffee cultivation and even completely abandon their farms.

Growing coca requires extensive use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, causing severe soil damage. In other words, after several years of coca cultivation, the soil becomes barren and unable to grow any crops. In the early 2000s, the United States strongly supported Bolivian agriculture, but due to the Bolivian government's later support for coca cultivation, relations with the U.S. deteriorated, and coffee farmers suffered the most. Subsequently, under Bolivia's limited resumption of the anti-drug war, many programs were restarted to assist coffee farmers, such as COE (Cup of Excellence), which was held with the support of USAID.

As if these blows weren't enough, in 2013, leaf rust disease arrived (a fungus that attacks coffee leaves, preventing photosynthesis). In just that year alone, Bolivia lost 50% of its coffee production. The combination of the government's coca leaf policy and leaf rust disease reduced Bolivia's coffee production by 70% over the past decade, reducing it to a minor coffee-producing nation.

Bolivian Coffee Growing Regions

Bolivia's most famous growing region is La Paz, including Caranavi, Yungas, Inquisivi, and other areas.

Yungas is located in Caranavi Province, northeast of La Paz City. 95% of Bolivia's coffee is produced here. Along the vast forests extending along the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains, this is fertile land with rainy, humid, and warm climate, making it a favorable area for coffee production and cultivation. The altitude here ranges from 800-1,800 meters. This region is most famous for one of the world's most dangerous roads, nicknamed Yungas Road, also known as "the world's most dangerous road."

Coffee Cultivation

Bolivia's coffee production is primarily based on a smallholder farming system, with 23,000 small farms ranging from 2-9 hectares nationwide. Particularly noteworthy is that approximately 40% of Bolivia's coffee culture is focused on domestic consumption. Moreover, Bolivian cultivation is almost entirely organic.

Growing Varieties

The main varieties are Arabica, primarily Typica, Caturra, Catuai, and Catimor. The harvest season runs from July to November.

Catimor

This is a hybrid of Timor and Caturra, discovered in Portugal in 1959. Its flavor profile is distinct and easy to identify, with bitter and sour notes and a slightly astringent taste, often with a salty aftertaste. It has high planting density and strong resistance to leaf rust, making it a high-yield variety. In the past, Latin America saw extensive cultivation of Catimor varieties based on recommendations from agricultural experts.

Processing Methods

Bolivian farmers primarily use the washed method to process green beans, though some occasionally use natural or honey processing methods. It's worth mentioning that because Bolivia's climate is colder than other coffee-producing countries, many farmers use mechanical drying rather than sun-drying.

Tomorrow's Sun Project

The Tomorrow's Sun Project is a comprehensive plan to elevate Bolivian coffee, requiring significant investment of money and effort to guide smallholders. This includes technical support, breeding, pruning, harvesting, and other important techniques, as well as purchasing farmers' coffee at high prices, creating a virtuous cycle where farmer income and quality enter sustainable operations.

COE (Cup of Excellence)

From the 1990s to the 2000s, foreign aid-funded development projects established coffee washing processing plants and provided training programs for farmers on how to properly harvest and dry coffee to select only good beans, prevent fermentation, and maintain quality. This training enabled coffee farmers of that time to participate in COE competitions, but only between 2004 and 2009.

After 2009, Bolivia's COE competition was canceled because the Bolivian national government was strongly anti-American and did not want USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to fund any more development programs in Bolivia, and there were no other funding sources available for the COE program.

Bolivia Waliki Estate Cocoa Natural Java

Coffee Region: La Paz
Growing Altitude: 1,600 meters
Coffee Variety: Java
Processing Method: Cocoa Natural Process

This Bolivian coffee comes from a small estate named Waliki. The name was inspired by a local greeting meaning "How is everything?" with the response being "All good" or "Hakuna Matata." Waliki Estate is located in the Bolinda colony, about 10 kilometers outside the town of Caranavi in La Paz, Bolivia, situated in dense, steep valleys.

The Bolinda colony was established 52 years ago and was once called "Bolivia Linda" or "Beautiful Bolivia." Many years later, the name was shortened to Bolinda, which is now one of the larger settlements in the area.

Waliki Estate is owned by the Rodriguez family. The Rodriguez family owns a family business called Agricafe, which produces coffee from their own estates and sources quality small batch crops from small producers in the Yungas region.

Waliki Estate covers 3.62 hectares at an altitude of 1,600 meters. This high altitude helps ensure the slow maturation of coffee cherries. This slow maturation process leads to increased sugar concentration in the coffee cherries, which helps make the coffee sweeter.

Waliki Estate

It's worth mentioning that earlier we discussed Bolivia's lack of emphasis on coffee cultivation, leading to low production. However, FrontStreet Coffee specifically selected this Java coffee from Waliki Estate, partly due to the specialty of the coffee variety and partly because FrontStreet Coffee recognizes the estate's professionalism and dedication.

During the harvest season, the estate hires pickers from the Bolinda community who carefully select coffee cherries during harvesting. These pickers are trained to select only ripe coffee cherries, and the estate conducts multiple rounds of cherry picking during the harvest season to ensure cherries are picked at optimal maturity. The estate uses crates that ensure coffee isn't damaged during transport and also allows air circulation around the cherries, preventing unnecessary early fermentation. After selection and weighing, the coffee cherries are carefully washed and placed on raised African drying beds, turned every hour. After about a week, the coffee cherries are placed in cocoa dryers.

FrontStreet Coffee discovered that the estate uses cocoa dryers for coffee bean processing. The Rodriguez family has been continuously innovating and experimenting with different processing techniques, discovering that cocoa dryers can slowly and consistently dry coffee beans at low temperatures, thereby reducing the impact of weather conditions. The coffee beans are placed in large steel barrels at temperatures not exceeding 40°C for about 35 hours, turned every 30 minutes. After drying, the coffee beans are transported to La Paz for resting, then undergo hulling at Agricafe's drying mill, La Luna. At this mill, careful mechanical dehulling and sorting are performed, in addition to manual sorting under UV and natural light.

Java Coffee Beans

Java coffee beans are known locally in Bolivia as the "long bean" variety, named for their elongated appearance. Their formal name should be Java. Java is a very interesting variety—from its name, one can see its strong connection to Indonesia. However, in fact, Java originally grew in the pristine forests of Ethiopia, collected by local peoples, then transmitted through Yemen to Indonesia, where it was named Java. Originally, it was widely believed that Java was a variant of Typica, but after genetic comparison, it was discovered that Java is actually the Ethiopian coffee variety Abysinia.

After Indonesia, the Java variety first spread to nearby Timor islands, then to Cameroon in East Africa, where it was first released for farmer cultivation in 1980. As for its introduction to Central and South America, it was brought to Costa Rica in 1991 through CIRAD (the Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) under the leadership of breeding expert Benoit Bertrand. Panama was the first Central American country to officially recognize the Java variety.

Java's fruits and seeds are very long, the young shoots are bronze-colored, and the plant is quite tall but has low yield. It has stronger resistance to leaf rust and coffee berry disease, making it very suitable for smallholder cultivation. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that this Java coffee, with its outstanding flavor profile, is comparable to Geisha.

Roasting Profile

Brewing Parameters

Coffee Amount: 15 grams
Ratio: 1:15
Water Temperature: 90°C
Grind Size: 80% pass-through through 0.85mm sieve
Dripper: Hario V60 #01

Brewing Process

First Pour: 30g of water for 30-second bloom
Second Pour: Inject 95g of water (scale shows 125g), completed in about 1 minute 5 seconds
Third Pour: Inject 100g of water (scale shows 225g), completed in about 1 minute 45 seconds
Extraction Time: 2 minutes, remove dripper to complete brewing

Brewing Flavor

Slight fermentation, grapes, mild nutty notes, floral aroma, medium acidity, juicy mouthfeel

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