A brief introduction to the cultivation of boutique coffee beans in Bolivia

The advantage of Bolivian coffee lies in its high altitude and excellent varieties of coffee, where the traditional Tibica and a small amount of Kaddura are highly valued in the world market. In the past, coffee trees in Bolivia used to act as hedges and ornaments around the garden. Real commercial production began in the early 1950s. The coffee industry in Brazil was badly damaged by the great frost in 1957, while Bolivia (Bolivia) benefited and developed rapidly. Bolivian coffee is grown at an altitude of 18000 to 2670 meters above sea level, and the Arabic washed coffee beans are exported to Germany and Sweden, which is not the best today and has a bitter taste.

Lake Titicaca, located on the Coaya Plateau on the border between Bolivia and Peru, is the highest and largest freshwater lake in South America, one of the highest large freshwater lakes in the world, the highest navigable lake in the world, and the third largest lake in South America (after Lake Maracaibo and Patus lagoon).

Lake Titicaca Copacabana

Country: Bolivia

Altitude: 3812m

Producing area: Lake Titicaca

Baking degree: medium baking

Treatment: washing

Variety: iron pickup

Producer: tapping Baigabana small farmers

Flavor: dried aromas of roasted nuts and almonds, orange and pomelo

Bolivia has the absolute potential to become a premium coffee producer, and now it also produces a small amount of premium coffee. The total national output is slightly smaller than that of a slightly larger single coffee plantation in Brazil. But production is decreasing year by year, and coffee plantations are disappearing with astonishing figures. Perhaps in the near future, it will be increasingly difficult to see quality coffee from Bolivia on the market.

There is very little information on how coffee entered Bolivia and the history of coffee cultivation in the country. It is found from the literature that there was a large amount of coffee production in Bolivia in the 1980s, but the information is limited to this. The country is not small, about the same size as Ethiopia or Colombia. Because it is a landlocked country, it has faced some challenges in export in the past, especially the extra cost of time and cost.

Bolivia has a small population, with only 10.5 million people. Most people are quite poor, and about 25% of the country's population is in extreme poverty. The country depends on minerals and natural gas as well as agriculture, with coffee growing in the minority. The impact of growing coca leaves for drugs on the economy and agriculture is too great to ignore. Many coffee farmers have begun to switch to coca leaves because the price of coca leaves fluctuates less and provides more living security for producers. Between 2010 and 2011, when coffee prices were high, many farmers were encouraged to switch to coffee production with financial assistance from the anti-drug programs of Bolivia and the United States. Since then, however, coffee prices have fallen again, and many farmers have switched to coca leaves.

Bolivia has an ideal environment for growing coffee in many ways: high enough above sea level and a distinct dry and wet climate. Domestic coffee multi-ripe ancient native varieties, such as Tibika and Kaddura. In recent years, some high-quality, pure and complex coffee has been exported from Bolivia, but this is not the norm.

In the past, coffee producers used to remove the pulp of coffee after harvest and then transport it to the central processing plant. This creates two major problems: first, the coffee may freeze when it is transported to the processing plant; second, there is still considerable humidity in the pulp, so it will continue to ferment, so the coffee will be of poor quality and unpleasant smell. Now more and more quality coffee farmers begin to deal with the harvested fruit on their farms. The United States has subsidized the establishment of several small wet coffee treatment plants across Bolivia as part of anti-drug planned economic subsidies. Even though the coffee industry has made many changes to improve its quality, Bolivian coffee still lacks the fame of neighboring Colombia or Brazil.

Coffee competitions such as the Excellence Cup enable the best Bolivian coffee to rise to prominence. I recommend that you look for these coffees and enjoy them while they are still on the market. Even if boutique coffee does have a better rate of return, even coffee farmers who require quality are starting to give up coffee production.