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Flavor Characteristics of Bolivia Geisha Coffee Beans and the Story of Bolivia Geisha's Cousin Java Coffee

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). Bolivia is a very interesting place. Although known as a paradise for coffee cultivation, its production has always been low. FrontStreet Coffee has imported Bolivian coffee several times, and its refined flavors

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our official WeChat account: FrontStreet Coffee

Bolivia is a fascinating place. Although known as a paradise for coffee cultivation, its production has always been relatively low. FrontStreet Coffee has been deeply impressed by the exquisite flavors of Bolivian coffee, which typically manifests as rich sweetness and soft acidity. At the 2017 WBC (World Barista Championship), Japanese competitor Miki Suzuki used Geisha coffee beans from Bolivia, achieving world runner-up with her superb skills and the profound flavors of Bolivian coffee.

Speaking of Bolivian Geisha, FrontStreet Coffee must mention a Java coffee bean we recently cupped. Java can be considered a cousin variety to Bolivian Geisha, emitting unique and elegant flavors—sweet and sour with a creamy, smooth mouthfeel.

Bolivia

Bolivia, a landlocked country in South America, borders Brazil. Bolivia features diverse terrain, from the peaks of the Andes to vast salt flats, with an average altitude exceeding 3,000 meters. The constitutional capital is Sucre, while the actual government seat is La Paz, with an altitude of over 3,600 meters, making it the world's highest capital city. The high altitude provides significant advantages for coffee cultivation, yet Bolivia's coffee industry remains weak, with an annual production of only 223,000 bags (60kg per bag).

The low production is caused by several factors. First, transportation difficulties—coffee growing areas often have rugged and dangerous roads, making it difficult to transport coffee out. The North Yungas Road is recognized as the world's most dangerous road. The mountain path basically hugs the cliff edge without guardrails, and accidents frequently occur on foggy days. Hundreds of people die in traffic accidents here each year, earning it the name "Death Road" (El Camino de la Muerte). These harsh transportation conditions also create enormous difficulties for coffee transport. In recent years, the Bolivian government has recognized that safe transportation is crucial for exports and is heavily investing in road construction.

Another important reason is Bolivia's small population of only 10.5 million people. Most people are quite poor, and growing coca leaves (used for drugs) offers more secure returns, causing many farmers to abandon coffee and even completely give up their farms. Growing coca requires large amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, causing extreme soil damage. Additionally, when leaf rust struck in 2013, Bolivia lost 50% of its coffee production in just one year, directly becoming a minor coffee-producing country.

Bolivian Coffee Development History

In 1880, Bolivia had substantial coffee production, mainly located on large farms north of La Paz.

In 1991, the government promoted a plan to encourage indigenous people to cultivate coffee, but did not emphasize coffee quality. With the government encouraging coca leaf cultivation—whose profits are four times that of coffee—many farmers abandoned coffee cultivation and even completely gave up their farms.

In the early 2000s, the United States strongly supported Bolivian agriculture, but due to the Bolivian government's support for coca cultivation, relations with the U.S. deteriorated, with coffee farmers suffering the most. Later, under Bolivia's resumed limited anti-drug war, many coffee development programs were restarted, such as COE, which was held with support from USAID.

In 2004, the Cup of Excellence (COE) was held in Bolivia, where 13 specialty beans scored above 84 points in cupping, with the champion bean scoring as high as 90.44 points, and green bean prices rose accordingly.

In 2009, Bolivia participated in the COE competition for the last time. Due to political factors, Bolivia has not yet returned to COE.

In 2013, leaf rust struck, combined with the government's coca leaf policy, causing Bolivia's coffee production to decrease by 70% over the past decade, becoming a minor coffee-producing country.

In 2018, Bolivia signed a quality inspection agreement with China regarding Bolivian coffee exports.

In 2019, Bolivia's political turmoil made everything uncertain again. The coup caused cities to become paralyzed, making coffee exports extremely difficult.

Cultivation Model

Bolivian coffee can usually be traced back to single farms or cooperatives. Due to land reform, large landowners have been significantly reduced since 1991. The 23,000 coffee-producing families in Bolivia all grow coffee on small farms ranging from 1.2 to 8 hectares.

Coffee Regions

Bolivia's main coffee production area is Yungas, with cultivation altitudes between 800-2,300 meters and harvest periods from July to November. 95% of Bolivia's coffee comes from this region. Yungas is located on the eastern side of the Andes and is covered by continuous forest that extends from Peru through Bolivia into Argentina. The region has some of the world's highest-altitude coffee and is also Bolivia's oldest coffee-producing region. As mentioned earlier, the government seat of La Paz is located in the western part of this region.

In addition to Yungas, coffee is also grown in Santa Cruz and Beni. Santa Cruz is located in the easternmost part of Bolivia, but due to insufficient altitude, high-quality coffee is rare, with cultivation accounting for about 3% of the country's total.

The Rodriguez Family

The development of specialty coffee in Bolivia can be attributed to the Rodriguez family. The Rodriguez family began growing coffee in 1986. Due to policies, natural disasters, and other factors, Bolivia's coffee estates gradually decreased. To develop the coffee industry, the Rodriguez family began acquiring land and establishing new estates to cultivate high-quality specialty coffee, such as Bolivian Geisha coffee beans.

The Rodriguez family's coffee estates include a total of 12 farms—4 in Santa Cruz and 8 in Caranavi, La Paz—achieving integrated harvesting, processing, packaging, and export operations.

The "El Sol de Manana" (Tomorrow Sun) program was launched in 2016 by the Rodriguez family to support small farmers in growing high-quality coffee. By providing coffee farmers with more vocational training and knowledge, discounts on purchasing the latest coffee seeds and other related consultations, as well as fairer trading prices; while also setting up reward mechanisms for farmers who seriously cultivate and achieve certain cupping scores, this improves local coffee quality, creating a virtuous cycle where farmer income and quality enter sustainable operations.

FrontStreet Coffee previously cupped a batch of washed Java Typica coffee beans from the Tomorrow Sun program, which possessed rich flavor profiles, soft strawberry acidity, caramel sweetness, with slight cocoa and almond aftertaste.

Coffee Varieties

Bolivia's traditional coffee varieties mainly include Typica, Catuai, Red and Yellow Catuai, among others. With the wave of specialty coffee, in the past two decades, many coffee estates have introduced varieties such as Bolivian Geisha, Pacamara, SL28, etc. The Rodriguez family's Bolivian Geisha coffee beans come from the world-renowned Hacienda La Esmeralda.

Java (Java Nica) comes from a branch called Abyssinia in Ethiopia and is a native ancient variety. This branch is actually the same branch, same origin, and shares the excellent floral and fruity flavors as Geisha. For this reason, Java is often called Geisha's cousin.

However, FrontStreet Coffee would like to remind you that the Java mentioned here is different from Indonesian Java. Indonesian Java is actually a synonym for a coffee-producing region, while Bolivian Java is a coffee variety; moreover, Indonesian Java has lost its excellent original genes through centuries of migration, and the two belong to different branches.

FrontStreet Coffee will briefly review how Java came to the Americas. After Indonesia, the Java variety was first introduced to the nearby Timor island group, then to Cameroon in East Africa, and was first released to farmers in Cameroon in 1980.

In 1991, to provide more variety choices for small coffee growers while also considering low fertilizer requirements, CIRAD (International Center for Agricultural Research and Development) introduced Java to Costa Rica, which was then brought to various countries in Central and South America, and it was discovered that Java performed well in flavor at high altitudes.

As Java was cultivated in Central America, the Mierisch family of Nicaragua was the first to draw the specialty coffee market's attention to this variety; and to distinguish Indonesian Java coffee from the Java variety, they named the Central American Java variety JAVA NICA (meaning Java variety from Nicaragua). Java coffee has emerged in Central and South America in recent years, and upon arriving in Bolivia, it has been carefully cultivated by the Rodriguez family.

This year, FrontStreet Coffee cupped a Bolivian cocoa natural processed Java coffee bean that came from the Rodriguez family. It originates from a small estate called Waliki, located in the Bolinda community about 10 kilometers outside Caranavi town, La Paz, Bolivia, situated in dense, steep valleys at altitudes above 1,600 meters. The region's climate is cold, and the coffee cultivation cycle is relatively long. FrontStreet Coffee will provide detailed information about this bean below.

Processing Methods

From the 1990s to the 21st century, thanks to foreign-funded development projects that established coffee washing processing plants, the vast majority of Bolivian small farmers use traditional washed processing methods. A few large estates, in addition to classic processing methods like natural, washed, and honey processing, are also experimenting with special processing methods such as anaerobic fermentation and yeast processing. The Rodriguez family is among these few large estates.

As mentioned earlier, FrontStreet Coffee obtained a batch of Bolivian coffee beans processed using cocoa natural processing, which was developed by the Rodriguez family. After selection and weighing, coffee cherries are carefully washed and placed on raised African drying beds, then turned every hour. After about a week, the coffee cherries are placed in cocoa dryers.

Cocoa dryers had never been seen before for coffee bean processing, but Pedro Rodriguez has been continuously innovating and trying 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 drums at temperatures not exceeding 40 degrees Celsius for about 35 hours, turned every 30 minutes.

After the coffee beans are dried, they are transported to La Paz for resting, then undergo hulling at the drying facility. Mechanical equipment is used for careful coffee dehulling and sorting at this facility, in addition to manual sorting under ultraviolet and natural light.

FrontStreet Coffee: Bolivia Waliki Estate Cocoa Natural Java

Bolivia Waliki Coco Natural Java

Coffee Region: La Paz

Cultivation Altitude: 1,600 meters

Coffee Variety: Java

Processing Method: Cocoa Natural

Roasting Suggestions

To bring out the unique aroma and juice-like characteristics of the Java variety, FrontStreet Coffee adopted a light roasting approach.

FrontStreet Coffee Bolivian Java Coffee Bean Roasting Curve

Cupping Flavors

Dry Aroma: Fermented notes, grape

Wet Aroma: Honey, floral

Palate: Grape, citrus, honey, nuts, cream

How FrontStreet Coffee Brews

Considering that this Java bean is lightly roasted, and light-roasted beans have lower coffee substance dissolution rates than dark-roasted ones, FrontStreet Coffee adopted higher water temperature for brewing to ensure sufficient flavor extraction, while also choosing a finer grind size.