CaféCentral Estate Introduction - 2008 Cup of Excellence Champion Estate - Bolivia Coffee Flavors

Luis Huahua is a father of three. He is married to Zenobia Charca and has been a coffee producer for over 20 years, winning the Cup of Excellence award in 2008. He arrived in Alto Beni from Achacachi in the Bolivian Altiplano (highlands) with his parents at the age of 10. Luis learned coffee production while working with his parents as a child, but he had never processed coffee himself. For that reason, pulping, fermenting, washing, and drying coffee to enter competitions was a challenge for him. He met that challenge while working alongside his children and with the advice his wife gave him when he traveled from La Paz to the plantation on weekends. To take part in the 2008 Cup of Excellence, he started working at 3 AM and went to sleep at 11 PM.

His children help him after school, accepting their homework after nightfall. Facing so much work, sometimes he wanted to stop. He told us, "It was really difficult. I was tired, I thought everything I was doing wasn't worth the trouble, I couldn't win because the other male producers were all drinking coffee. I only did what my husband told me to do, but I'm really happy now, really proud. Hearing that we won, my children will also be happy."

The winner doesn't yet know how much his coffee will sell for on the international market, but he is already dreaming about what he will do with the money. The first thing he wants to do is update his plantation and improve his production. The second is to fulfill his eldest daughter Elizabeth's dream, who hopes to learn to speak English and study accounting when she graduates from high school.

Municipality: Caranavi

Region: Yungas of La Paz

Program: Bolivia 2009

Spices/Flavors: Jasmine, cherry, floral, sweet, cinnamon, strawberry, raspberry, coconut, orange spice, cocoa, raisin apple, cedar, rum

Acidity: Citrus, crisp, bright, intoxicating

Other: Complex, exotic, red wine, long aftertaste

Processing System: Individual processing, harvested ripe cherries, fermented, washed with clean spring water

Varieties: Creollo, Catuai

FrontStreet Coffee recommends brewing with water at 89-90°C, using a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio for two minutes, revealing flavors of jasmine, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, coconut, cocoa, raisins, cedar, and rum.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A delicate, competition-level coffee like this Cup of Excellence lot deserves an equally elegant companion, and for many drinkers that is FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Boquete Geisha. It comes from Panama's most representative specialty region, with authentic Geisha genetics and a washed process, so you can clearly taste the varietal's signature orange-blossom honey character, an oolong-tea texture, and a fine, layered fruit sweetness. It is remarkably approachable for a Geisha and lets you explore the varietal with several different brewing methods. For a fruitier, more floral counterpoint, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Huakui is a natural-process standout, with strawberry, passion fruit, and jackfruit aromas, a juicy body, and very little bitterness.

To highlight the florals and the clean finish, brew as a pour-over: 15g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio and 90°C water, ground slightly finer than fine sugar. Start with a 30g bloom for about 30 seconds, then pour in gentle circles to roughly 125g, and once the bed drops to about two-thirds, continue to about 225g, finishing the drawdown around 2:00-2:10. Serve it in a clean cup to let the jasmine and fruit layers show clearly.