Bolivia

Bolivia remains a novelty origin in the world of specialty coffee. In 2018, Bolivia exported just 23,000 bags of coffee, while its neighbors in Peru exported over 4 million. In Colombia, it was more than 12 million. And Brazil, the world’s largest producer of coffee, more than 40 million bags.

What Bolivia lacks in quantity it is making up for in quality: it may export precious little coffee, but its exports include a growing number of lots that are nothing short of extraordinary. Between the majestic snow-capped peaks of Bolivia’s Andes in the southwest and the swelter of its Amazon basin lowlands in the east are two growing regions with environmental conditions simply ideal for coffee. Caranavi, and the neighboring Yungas region, is the traditional source of Bolivian coffee and remains its best-known origin. But some of the most exciting Bolivian coffees are now coming from Samaipata in its eastern highlands, where the Andes slope down toward the Amazon. The very best coffees from both regions are formidable, fully capable of standing toe-to-toe with the finest lots produced by its neighbors.

We remain bullish on Bolivia’s future as a specialty origin largely because we believe so deeply in our Direct Trade partners there, who are producing stunning lots of coffee in both Bolivia’s traditional and emerging coffee regions.

Finca Takesi is an audacious and unlikely enterprise.

It is perched precariously in a narrow fold in the Bolivian Andes, where it clings to a steep hillside above a deep ravine cut over centuries by the rushing waters of the Takesi River below. The majestic snow-capped peak of the Mururata Mountain looms above the farm, soaring to an elevation of more than 5800 m (19,000 feet). The farm rises from the Takesi River bed at 1700 m to more than 3100 m, with coffee planted over 35 hectares between 1800 m - 2500 m, the upper reaches so high that conventional wisdom tells us coffee cannot grow there.

There is no handbook for an environment like Finca Takesi’s, where coffee production is pushing the boundaries of what we thought was viable, standard assumptions don’t hold and the rules of coffee farming need to be rewritten. The Iturraldes have taken a patient and flexible approach to the work, experimenting continuously and applying what they learn as they go. The results have been consistently extraordinary. The Finca Takesi Geisha is perennially among the very best coffees we source.