Bolivia is one of the more difficult regions to source great coffees from, as cooperative politics and a general lack of production are tricky to navigate. We have a good relationship with this particular outfit who have proven most adept at procuring good cherry and processing it cleanly. Pedro Rodriguez and son, Pedro Pablo own and operate the processing station. Cherry transportation to the mill is unique. Beginning in early evening a lineup of taxis trails down the road leading up to Buenavista. It looks like the line waiting to pick up passengers at the airport. But instead of acquiring fares these taxis are delivering cherry to mill from farmers in a handful of different mountain towns above the mill and across Caranavi. Pedro and Pablo have hired these cars to bring them their coffee instead of sending their own trucks. Its genius in a way. This lot is from Uchumachi, north of Caranavi near Coroico, an infamous hideout for Che Guevarra on this route north to Venezuela. Most of the production in the area is newer growth Caturra and above 1,800 masl, as well as the traditional Typica grown in this region. We are also excited to have these certified Organic coffees in our line-up, even though many of our offerings are basically grown organically anyway...

Lighter roasts of this coffee produce a restrained and roasty aromatics in the dry grounds, cocoa nibs and walnuts. The notes that you will pick out are sweet and clean, and quite different from these other coffees. Raw honey, dried peach, and toasted coconut are the standout features. More developed roasts boast slightly "bigger" scents with raw cane sugar and an unmistakeable note of cocoa butter. Caranavi's aromatics are boosted quite a bit when adding hot water. Honey wheat, butterscotch, and cinnamon come up in the steam off the crust. The cup has an interesting cocoa and nut tone, distinct from the low-grown nutty flavors one might find in a coffee like Brazil. Chocolate and hazelnut notes combine to give a Nutella-like flavor at Full City roast, while lighter levels have walnut flavors and cocoa powder. The light roast has dried orange peel brightness, an acidic snap to the cup that shows off it's high-grown origin. This Uchumachi coffee is a nice daily drinking coffee with a profile, straight-forward and unpretentious in a way. It will also make a nice addition to an espresso blend or even a single origin espresso, with complex Bakers chocolate bittersweets in the finish.

This lot of Bolivia comes to us from the town of Bolinda, located within the greater Caranavi region in northern Bolivia. We've had a great season in this area, which can be difficult with low production often a problem. Thankfully, the owners of the Buenavista washing station do a great job of working with farmers who are more than adept at procuring ripe coffee cherry. This is definitely half the battle, as the folks at Buenavista have processing down to a simple science. The processing is clean, and involves density flotation, and depulping with a Penagos water conserving depulper. The elevation and humidity at Buenavista are such that fermentation happens quite fast and usually just overnight. Drying occurs on both raised beds and patios. This all equates to a coffee that is unhindered by processing or defects, and one that will express inherent qualities in the cup.

This lot of Bolivia is sweetness driven, and while more "basic" in profile complexity, has a clarity of sweetness and acidity that make it a great daily drinking coffee. The dry fragrance is laced with raw almond in the vein of marzipan, and grounded by a note of baker's chocolate. Adding hot water brings up a smell of candied nuts, with light brown sugar, and cinnamon. Our darker roast had a fruitiness not found at the lighter end of the spectrum, that verged on black cherry. The profile is simple, yet offers a cup of coffee that is complete. The sweetness reminds me of simple syrup, or unrefined cane sugar. The nuttiness found in the dry grounds is in the cup as well, and is similar to almond milk. Lighter roasts have a malic acidity, that is bolstered by a fruited note of red apple. This coffee has a juicy mouthfeel, and with weight. For this reason, it's a prime candidate for single origin espresso, or will make a nice body component to an espresso blend. I pulled a shot of our Full City roast and was surprised how creamy and chocolatey it was, and with an almost effervescent acidity.

Buenavista is a centralized coffee processing station in Caranavi, the capital of the Yungas province in northern Bolivia. Bolivia is one of the more difficult regions to source great coffees from as cooperative politics and a general lack of production are tricky to navigate. Luckily, we have a good relationship with this particular outfit who have proven most adept at procuring good cherry and processing it cleanly. Pedro Rodriguez and son, Pedro Pablo own and operate the processing station. Lot #1738 is reference to bulking a sveral smaller lots that had a similar flavor profile. Cherry transportation to the mill is unique. Beginning in early evening a lineup of taxis trails down the road leading up to Buenavista. It looks like the line waiting to pick up passengers at the airport. But instead of acquiring fares these taxis are delivering cherry to mill from farmers in a handful of different mountain towns above the mill and across Caranavi. Pedro and Pablo have hired these cars to bring them their coffee instead of sending their own trucks. Its genius in a way. After arriving the coffee cherry is weighed, floated for density and depulped with a Penagos depulper. The coffees beans are fermented overnight for rarely more than 18 hours as Caranvi is at low elevation and relatively humid which speeds up the process. After washing the beans are typically dried on raised beds although patios are also used. Buenavista is a great operation. They're quite adept at keeping lots separate during the season and have a great quality control team in place. We'll offer a slew of different lots from themover the course of the next couple months so do be prepared a wide array of flavor profiles.

Our Buenavista lots are sweetness driven with darker notes of brown and muscavado sugars leading the way. Cinnamon and allspice meld nicely with baker's chocoale and brown sugar in the dry fragrance of the aromatics. The crust is laden with succulently sweet flavors like olive oil cake with citrus zest and cne sugar. The break had a sweet almond note like amaretto with a raw honey perfume hiding just behind it in the background. More almond, although seemingly toasted this time, teams a chocolate syrup flavor while the cups is warm. As it cools a Bartlett pear-like flavor and acidity resides in the profile of the City roast while the darker roast tends more towards darker cherry and bittersweet cacao flavors in the City+ profile. Buenavista is a viscous coffee with hefty mouth feel that finishes long with lingering notes of semi-sweet cacao.

We're getting down to our last lots of Bolivia coffee. They moved fast, and for good reason. We've tasted great results from the Buenavista washing station in Caranavi, and is due in part to the level of control maintained by the owners/operators of the station. They send out for coffee cherry from those farmers who implement some of the best cherry selection in the area. They then process in a simple, yet effective manner. The coffee cherry is weighed, floated for density, and depulped with a Penagos depulper. The coffees beans are fermented overnight, and then washed in a separate tank before being laid out on raised beds or patios to dry. This coffee comes to us from Apolo, a municipality located in the greater La Paz Department, and represents a blend of small holder farmers in this area. Most lots were made up of very few bags, and this at 20 bags, is definitely one of the larger ones.

This lot exemplifies what's been so great about much of the coffees we've received from Bolivia this year. There's depth to this coffee's sweetness and with a body that provides such a pleasing mouthfeel. The dry grounds smell of muscovado sugar, and are spiced with ground cinnamon and all-spice. Darker roasts have toasted almond and a scent of candied nuts. Adding hot water brings up a smell of coffee cake crust - cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter all rolled up in one. It's saturated and sweet like the smell of baking pastry. There's a note of well-developed sugars, and toasting caramel that comes up off the break. This all makes for a very pleasing cup of coffee, with a light caramel sweetness and light bittering note of Dutch drinking cocoa. The acidity is slightly tannic, but pleasant like tea, similar to what you might expect from iced black tea with lemon. Darker roasts have a raw cacao flavor, like that of nibs. There's also a fruit juiciness in flavor and mouthfeel at the deeper end of the roast spectrum that reminds me of dark berries. At Full City roast, this is a great selection for a single-origin espresso, with a peanut sauce like sweetness, lively acidity, and loads of cocoa in the finish.

Sultana is the dried skin of the coffee cherry. Its made with the addition of cinnamon in the Bolivian Andes and pack quite a whallop at the strength those folks brew at. When you wet-process coffee, the skin is difficult to save, and usually becomes part of the compost mix for the farm. But in Arabia and Africa, the skin of the cherry is used to make a very potent tea called Qishr (also spelled Kisher). In fact, making a tea from the dried coffee fruit pre-dates roasting the coffee seed to crush and steep in water - coffee as we know it. Qishr can be pricey, and even now is often higher than the price of coffee in an Arabic market. If you like fruit-blend herbal teas, especially those with fruited flavors like hibiscus, rose-hips, tamarind, orange peel, mango, apple, you'll be interested in giving Sultana a whirl. It makes amazing iced tea as well, and with a very moderate amount of honey is quite pleasant. The best way to make Sultana tea is in a clever or even a French Press, or you can use any method you would use for preparing herbal tea. Brewing like filtered coffee does not work well although we were surprised by the juicy cup quality with a 3 minute Bunn Trifecta brew. Traditionally, Qishr has additions of cardamom pods and sugar while brewing, which works well with Sultana as well. Does it have caffeine? Yes, since all parts of the coffee plant do ...but we don't know exactly how much, and it will certainly depend on steep time and the amount used to make each cup.

This Bolivian Sultana is vastly superior to any Cascara we've ever tasted from El Salvador. The cherry skins themselves are clearly better selected and dried more evenly than we've seen in the past. We tested the Sultana at 6 grams of dried cherry skin per 500 ML of water. I enjoy subtlety and elegance in herbal teas. Those who want more intensity and fruit character will surely get it at a higher dosage. At 5 minutes steep time we find an intense golden raisin and tamarind flavor in the cup which makes lots sense all things considered. Rose petal and hibiscus come screaming out of the cup as it cools. There is clearly a relation here between Flor de Jamaica tea and Sultana. As the coffee cools a clear, refreshing rooibus tea character develops. At 10 minutes steep time the sweetness intensifies along with an herbal character. The nuance and subtlety of the hibiscus and dried floral notes begin to dissipate. The elegance of those notes get lost with the increase in sweetness. An interesting metamorphosis happened at 15 minutes steep time. The sweetness seemed to level out and an interesting orange wine character developed. This occurrence in natural wine making happens with more maceration time between the "juice" and the grape skins themselves. Accordingly this flavor seems to make sense. I happen to particularly like the mouth feel at this steep time but the acidity seems to be tad heavier on the herbal side.