Specialty Coffee Beans from Bolivia: Is Bolivian Coffee the Dark Horse?

Recently, FrontStreet Coffee introduced a coffee bean from Bolivia called Bolivia Cocoa Natural Caturra. Bolivia boasts high altitudes and diverse topography, creating specialty coffee with high quality and clean fruit acidity. Bolivia is a dark horse production area in specialty coffee in recent years, with various estates located at high altitudes with complex terrain in South America, each possessing unique characteristics.

FrontStreet Coffee will now introduce three estates and Bolivia's special coffee bean processing methods.

Bolivia Coffee

Towering peaks that touch the clouds, dreamlike salt lakes, grasslands rich in wildlife resources... The superior natural environment and resources have made this place a cradle for coffee. Among coffee-producing countries in South America, Bolivia's coffee production might be insignificant, but this beautiful country has brought specialty coffee to the world that is as charming as its scenery. Therefore, local people proudly call Bolivian coffee "the taste of paradise."

Unlike other coffee-producing regions, Bolivia's coffee requires driving for several hours from a city at 3,600 meters, descending all the way to areas below 2,000 meters above sea level for coffee cultivation. Among these, the North Yungas Road is recognized worldwide as the most dangerous road. The mountain road basically clings to the cliff edge without guardrails. Fog often appears, causing frequent accidents, so it's also known as the "Death Road."

Alpaca Estate

The estate is named after Bolivia's adorable animal, the alpaca. Although the estate is not large, its products are renowned worldwide. Here you'll find all the natural resources suitable for coffee growth: high altitude, fertile soil, and lush forests. The estate owner hopes to demonstrate modern cultivation techniques and concepts to local farmers through this estate, showing them that new coffee trees can coexist with old ones.

Alpaca Estate is an old estate that had been operating for 15 years before meeting the Pedro company, which works hard to promote Bolivian coffee beans on the international stage. They also received guidance from the Pedro company, gradually separating different coffee bean varieties for cultivation and adopting more systematic approaches to produce high-quality specialty coffee beans.

Alpaca Estate offers a wide variety of coffee beans, including Bourbon, Geisha Java, SL28/SL34, Caturra, and more.

FLORIPONDIO Datura Coffee Estate

Datura Estate and the Castle Ruins Estate are located in the same region - the Samaipata area, which despite its high altitude, is not easy for coffee cultivation. However, they found suitable microclimates and excellent soil plots in this region. Thus, Datura Estate became an experimental-level specialty coffee estate! The estate has planted over 50 specialty coffee varieties, including Red Caturra, SL28/SL34, Batian, Pacamara, Java, and more.

It's worth mentioning that Datura Estate actually has many datura plants, which are neurotoxic plants. In traditional culture, witches would consume soup made from them to achieve communication with deities. Datura Estate frequently reminds visitors not to touch or smell the datura plants.

GAVILAN Provincial Eagle Coffee Estate

The owner of Provincial Eagle Estate, Martin, grew up in Caranavi, Bolivia's coffee hub. Local coffee farmers had to change careers and stop growing coffee due to market recession problems that lasted for more than a decade. Martin also gave up at one point, but later met the Pedro company and decided to start fresh together, elevating Bolivian coffee beans to new heights, thus establishing Provincial Eagle Estate.

Provincial Eagle Estate is a young estate with excellent capabilities, and soon there will be opportunities to taste their coffee in Taiwan!

Bolivia's Unique Coffee Bean Processing Methods

As we all know, coffee bean processing methods are largely related to local climate, especially the number of sunny days, ease of water access, and the development level of local processing plants.

Due to the unpredictable weather in Bolivia's coffee-producing regions, the natural drying schedule must be very fast to avoid rain. They developed a method called cocoa natural processing, where the beans are turned every half hour during drying, and after three days when not completely dry, they are transferred to a dryer for secondary drying to reduce moisture content to 12.5% to complete the processing. The fermentation process, which involves turning every thirty minutes, achieves a cleanliness and brightness that's difficult to attain with typical natural processing.

The Pedro company discovered during washed processing that some Bolivian coffee beans are suitable for traditional methods of removing mucilage using water and fermentation bacteria, while others are suitable for waterless fermentation. They developed a 16-hour low-temperature waterless fermentation washed process - quite special! The traditional water fermentation washed processing method would involve fermenting in water for 18 hours.

Whether using water or waterless fermentation for washed processing, great attention is paid to every detail, strictly monitoring moisture content, Brix sugar levels, pH values, and more throughout the process - all to produce world-class coffee!

Important Notice :

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