Bolivian Coffee Flavor Profile - Introduction to Bolivia Sol de la Mañana Plan Coffee

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FrontStreet Coffee - Bolivia El Sol de Manana

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. This landlocked nation borders Brazil and Colombia. Although it has great potential as a coffee exporter, its production has always been quite scarce. The conditions for growing coffee are excellent, but the challenges are extremely formidable. The result is an exceptionally rich agricultural history established on very, very difficult land.

The origins of coffee can be traced back to 1880, when all production was basically related to the owners of some large farms north of La Paz. In 1991, the government promoted a plan for indigenous people to engage in coffee cultivation, but quality was not emphasized. This was due to Bolivia's backward economic development and infrastructure. Bolivia remains the poorest country in South America today. Additionally, Bolivia's originally advantageous varied terrain has become a key factor that harms coffee processing, transportation, and quality due to poor infrastructure. The government encouraged the cultivation of coca leaves, which yield four times the profit of coffee, causing many farmers to abandon coffee and even completely give up their farms.

In the early 2000s, the United States once strongly supported Bolivia's agriculture, but due to the Bolivian government's later support for coca cultivation, relations with the United States deteriorated, with coffee farmers suffering the most. Later, under Bolivia's resumption of limited anti-drug operations, many programs were restarted to assist coffee farmers. For example, COE (Cup of Excellence) was held with the support of USAID. When leaf rust arrived in 2013, in just that one year, Bolivia lost 50% of its coffee production. The combination of the government's coca leaf policy and leaf rust has reduced Bolivia's coffee production by 70% over the past decade, relegating it to a minor coffee-producing country.

Producing Regions

Yungas

Located in the Caranavi province, northeastern part of La Paz city. 95% of Bolivia's coffee is produced here. Along the extensive forest extending along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains, this is fertile land. Its rainy, humid, and warm climate makes it a favorable area for coffee production and cultivation. The altitude here is 800-1800 meters. This area is most famous for one of the world's most dangerous roads, nicknamed the "Road of Death" - Yungas Road, also known as "the world's most dangerous road."

El Sol de Manana

El Sol de Manana (Tomorrow's Sun) is a plan to comprehensively improve Bolivian coffee. This requires investing significant funds and effort to guide small farmers, including technical support, breeding, pruning, harvesting, and other important techniques, while purchasing coffee from small farmers at high prices, creating a virtuous cycle of sustainable operation for farmers' income and quality.

Several well-known roasters from Europe and America, such as Intelligentsia, Has Bean, Stumptown, Drop Coffee, 49th Parallel, Maruyama... almost regularly purchase beans from Agri Cafe. Agri Cafe is a Bolivian specialty coffee establishment created by plantation owner Pedro Rodriguez and his children, Pedro Pablo and Daniela. In addition to their own plantations, Pedro, with the dream of reviving Bolivian specialty coffee and caring for the lives of coffee farmers, began the El Sol de Manana (Tomorrow's Sun) plan.

Varieties

Java and Typica

The Java variety is still cultivated on Java Island today, but due to low yield and poor disease resistance, many farms have switched to planting new varieties. In terms of appearance, traditional Java beans are quite similar to Typica varieties. Generally, Java beans seen are shorter and slenderer (short berry shape), while there are also long berry Java varieties.

Typica is the most classic premium Arabica variety, with extremely low yield and susceptibility to rust disease, requiring more labor-intensive management. Typica coffee originated in Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. The plants are relatively robust but not tolerant to strong sunlight. The top leaves of Typica are reddish-bronze, earning it the name "red-top coffee."

Washed Processing Method

Bolivian farmers mainly use the washed processing method for green beans, occasionally also using natural or honey processing methods.

The coffee cherries are rinsed with clean water, and the unripe fruits floating on the water surface are removed. Most of the pulp is separated from the coffee beans through a depulper, and then the parchment beans are guided to a clean water tank. After about 16-36 hours of natural fermentation to dissolve the surface mucilage, they are washed again. They continue to be sun-dried for 1-3 weeks until the moisture content drops to 12%, then the outer shell is removed using a huller.

It's worth mentioning that because Bolivia has a colder climate than other coffee-producing countries, many farmers use machine drying instead of sun drying. Therefore, the flavor doesn't have the impurities found in sun-dried beans, but instead presents distinct fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and greater cleanliness.

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