Types and Characteristics of Bolivian Coffee Beans

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat public account: FrontStreet Coffee

When it comes to Bolivian coffee, even coffee enthusiasts may have rarely heard of it. However, coffee lovers who have tasted coffee at FrontStreet Coffee must have noticed this Bolivian coffee. FrontStreet Coffee believes this coffee bean has rich and unique coffee aroma. From grinding to brewing, the floral aroma is extremely rich, similar to a mixture of floral and fruity scents, leaving a deep impression. Therefore, coffee lovers in the store can't help but gather around to learn more when they smell it. So FrontStreet Coffee will discuss Bolivian coffee in this article!

Bolivian Coffee Growing Conditions

Bolivia is a typical landlocked country, neighboring Brazil and Colombia, which are renowned for producing specialty coffee beans. Geographically, Bolivia naturally follows suit, and the coffee quality must also be excellent. However, despite being a coffee export country with great potential, its production has always been very scarce. FrontStreet Coffee will mention the reasons for low production below, and their cultivation techniques are relatively backward compared to neighboring countries.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Bolivia's terrain is dominated by highlands, with an average altitude exceeding 3000m, making it the country with the highest average altitude in the world. The eastern and northeastern parts are mostly Amazon River alluvial plains, accounting for about 60% of the country's area; the central part is a valley region belonging to the eastern foothills of the Andes, with developed agriculture and many important cities concentrated here; the western part is the Bolivian plateau, with an average altitude above 1000 meters.

The eastern and central parts of Bolivia belong to tropical savanna climate, transitioning to subtropical climate toward the western mountains, while the inland plateau has a mountain climate. Therefore, most regions have a dry and cool climate with abundant annual rainfall. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned in previous articles, high altitude and suitable climate conditions are very suitable for growing high-quality coffee, which explains why Bolivian coffee has such sweet and rich flavors. That's why FrontStreet Coffee introduced Bolivian coffee beans for all coffee lovers to taste.

Bolivian Coffee History

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, the origin of Bolivian coffee can be traced back to 1880, when all production was basically related to owners of some large farms north of the capital La Paz.

In 1991, the Bolivian government promoted a plan for indigenous people to engage in coffee cultivation, but did not emphasize coffee quality. For Bolivian coffee farmers, survival is most important, so they were more willing to grow coca leaves, which have higher value than coffee beans. At that time, growing coca leaves was legal in Bolivia, and their profit was four times that of coffee, and cultivation was easier, leading many farmers to abandon coffee. Growing coca leaves requires large amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which cause great damage to the soil, making it barren and unable to grow crops.

It wasn't until the early 2000s, when the United States strongly supported Bolivian agriculture, that coffee received brief attention, but more people were still willing to grow coca leaves. Meanwhile, relations between Bolivia and the United States gradually deteriorated. It wasn't until Bolivia experienced the anti-drug war that many plans were restarted, and the Cup of Excellence (COE) competition was held with US aid and support.

However, according to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Bolivia truly became a minor coffee-producing country after the leaf rust outbreak in 2013. Leaf rust is a mold that attacks coffee leaves, preventing them from photosynthesis and causing coffee trees to die. In just that year, Bolivia lost 50% of its coffee production. In other words, due to coca leaf policies and leaf rust, Bolivia's coffee production decreased by 70% over the past decade, making it a minor coffee-producing country.

But because its coffee flavor is truly wonderful, to prevent these wonderful flavors from being lost, the Rodriguez family, one of the main forces in Bolivian specialty coffee, began helping coffee farmers improve coffee quality to increase profits, thus giving birth to the "Sol de la Mañana" (Tomorrow's Sun) program.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, the implementation of this program provides full technical guidance in seed selection, cultivation, and harvesting. They also established large processing plants to help small farmers complete processing processes, along with subsequent sales and export services. This greatly improved the enthusiasm and income levels of small farmers, practically protecting the rapidly declining Bolivian specialty coffee industry. Therefore, Bolivian coffee has still received attention from the specialty coffee market in recent years, and FrontStreet Coffee is no exception.

Bolivian Coffee Growing Regions

Bolivia's most famous coffee growing regions are La Paz, Caranavi, Yungas, and Inquisivi areas, with the Yungas region being the most renowned. FrontStreet Coffee will briefly introduce this region!

Yungas

Yungas is located in the Andean hilly area directly east of La Paz, a rugged agricultural region. The roads to Yungas are rough and dangerous, making coffee difficult to transport. However, aside from the disadvantages mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee, the coffee from this region is very unique due to its unique microclimate and incredible altitude. The world's highest coffee estate, Finca Takesi, is also located here, at an altitude of 2500 meters. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned in previous articles, coffee produced in high-altitude regions typically has deep and rich sweetness, soft citrus acidity, and alternating notes of black fruits and berries. Coffee produced at relatively lower altitudes shows balanced mouthfeel, excellent chocolate sweetness, soft acidity, and flavors of malt and dried fruit.

Bolivian Coffee Varieties

Most coffee plants grown in Bolivia are Typica varieties, but there are also small amounts of Caturra varieties. There is also a special variety in Bolivia - Java. This article by FrontStreet Coffee mainly introduces this Bolivian Java coffee bean!

In Bolivia, Java is locally known as the "long bean" variety, named for its elongated bean shape. According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, Java is a very interesting variety. From its name, one can see a strong connection to Indonesia, but in fact, Java originally grew in the original forests of Ethiopia, collected by local ethnic groups, then passed through Yemen to Indonesia, where it was named Java. Coffee lovers previously generally thought Java was a Typica variant, but after genetic comparison, it was discovered that Java is actually the Ethiopian coffee variety Abyssinia.

Now FrontStreet Coffee will introduce this Bolivian Java coffee bean, which FrontStreet Coffee selected as the best-tasting one after cupping and brewing comparison of several Java coffee beans from Bolivia.

FrontStreet Coffee Bolivian Java Coffee Beans

Country: Bolivia

Region: La Paz (Valle Grande Estate)

Altitude: 1600m

Variety: Java

Processing: Cocoa Natural Processing

Flavor: Grape, nuts, light floral notes, honey, cream, fermented sensation

As mentioned above, FrontStreet Coffee's coffee bean comes from Valle Grande Estate, located about 10 kilometers outside Caranavi town in the Bolinda colony of La Paz, Bolivia. The Bolinda colony was once called "Bolivia Linda" or "Beautiful Bolivia." Years later, the name was shortened to Bolinda, and it is now one of the larger settlements in the area. The estate is owned by the Rodriguez family, who own a family business called Agricafe. This company produces coffee from its own estates and purchases quality small batches from small producers in the Yungas region. Therefore, their coffee bean production techniques are quite mature.

Cocoa Natural Processing Method

This Java coffee bean uses a different natural processing method than the traditional natural processing mentioned in FrontStreet Coffee's previous articles - it has its own specialized natural processing method.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, their operation mainly involves hiring pickers from the Bolinda community during the harvest season, who carefully select coffee cherries during picking. These pickers are trained to pick only ripe coffee cherries, and the estate conducts multiple rounds of coffee cherry picking during the harvest season to ensure coffee cherries are picked at optimal ripeness.

They use crates to ensure coffee isn't damaged during transport and allows air circulation, preventing unnecessary early fermentation. Finally, after selection and weighing, coffee cherries are carefully washed and placed on raised African drying beds, turned every hour.

After about a week, coffee cherries are placed in cocoa dryers. Since cocoa dryers had never been used for coffee bean processing before, Pedro Rodriguez of the Rodriguez family continued innovating and trying different processing techniques, finally discovering that cocoa dryers can dry coffee beans slowly and continuously at low temperatures, reducing the impact of weather conditions. Thus, the "Cocoa Natural Method" was developed.

Coffee beans are placed in large steel barrels at temperatures not exceeding 40°C for about 35 hours, turned every 30 minutes. After coffee selection and weighing, they are carefully washed, then placed on raised African beds to dry, turned every hour. After drying, coffee is transported to La Paz for resting, then milled at Agricafe's drying mill, La Luna. In this advanced facility, coffee undergoes careful mechanical hulling and sorting, and also requires careful manual sorting under UV and natural light.

FrontStreet Coffee believes it is precisely this rigorous processing and excellent growing conditions that make this Bolivian Java coffee's flavor so outstanding, making it worthy of support.

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's compilation of relevant information and flavor characteristics of Bolivian Java coffee beans, hoping to give all coffee lovers a deeper understanding of Bolivian coffee.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473