Delicious Paradise through Death Highway_Stories of Bolivia's Coffee Regions

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If you want to talk about the paradise of coffee beans, it is Bolivia. This producing area can be regarded as one of the most recommended boutique coffee producing areas. Most of the coffee beans in this producing area are a little sweet and very pleasing. The number of coffee beans is very small.

This country, located in Central and South America, is one of the most diverse countries in the world, surrounded by five countries. The topography and climate are very diverse: there are Illmani peaks up to 6462 meters high, as well as Lake Titicaca, the highest and navigable alpine lake in the world, and tropical rain forests at 3812 meters above sea level. Such a diverse terrain is called a paradise for micro-batches of boutique coffee, but it is not too much.

Bolivia's coffee production is dominated by a smallholder production system, with 23000 small farms ranging in size from 2 to 9 hectares, and in particular, about 40 per cent of Bolivia's coffee culture is mainly sold domestically. The main varieties are Arabica, such as Iron pickup, Kaddura, Cleo, Kaduai and Katim, as well as new varieties of gesha and sl28. The production season is from July to November, most of them are washed coffee beans, only some of them are sun-treated.

Almost all Bolivian plants are grown organically (we have beans that have been imported into Bolivia in recent years, which are easy to cook, so the reviews are very good), which is supposed to be the focus of the next wave of boutique development.

Bolivia is such a potential producing area, but it is only a small coffee export area, accounting for less than 0.1% of global output. Why?

Not only that, Bolivian production has been declining year by year in recent years. From 1997 to 2014, the export volume dropped to only 1 stroke 4 every year. According to Roast Magazine, its coffee production ranked 38th and even lagged behind the United States, which ranked 35th.

The main reason is Bolivia's backward economic development and infrastructure. Bolivia is still the poorest country in South America. Although Bolivia's unique changeable terrain is beneficial to the growth of coffee, poverty and poor infrastructure are key factors in coffee processing, transportation and quality.

The most famous producing area in Bolivia is La Paz, including Caravani, North & South Yongas, Inquisivi and so on. The region is most famous for one of the most dangerous roads in the world, nicknamed Yongas Road, also known as "the most dangerous road in the world".

To the north of Yonggaz Road, there is a sharp drop of at least 600m (1830 feet), most of which is no more than 3.2m (10ft) of single-lane width, and there is no guardrail along the road, making the road very dangerous.

When it is not 05:00, Rain Water, fog and dust will also reduce the visibility of driving. On some sections of the road, the road is very muddy, and from time to time there are loose falling rocks, which can accidentally run out of control and rush down the valley. According to official statistics, there are an average of about 209 traffic accidents on Yongjas Road each year, resulting in 96 deaths.

In such a dangerous road, it is no wonder that it is not easy for Bolivia to export coffee beans, and it is also difficult for the outside world to obtain. Heavenly delicacy can only be delivered to the buyers of boutique coffee by the road of death, so fine micro-batches of Bolivian coffee can be said to be very precious and hard to find.

Even if the environment is so suitable for the development of coffee beans, poor infrastructure has become the biggest obstacle to coffee processing, transportation and export, so the output is far lower than that of other coffee boutique countries. Every time I get Bolivian beans, they are very precious.

From 2004 to 2009, Bolivia also held a COE competition. In the first COE competition held in 2004, there were 13 boutique bean cups with a total score of more than 84 points, and Champion beans scored as high as 90.44 points.

However, after 2009, the COE competition in Bolivia was cancelled because the Bolivian government was very anti-American and did not want the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to finance any additional development plans in Bolivia, and there were no other sources of funding for the COE program.

Although Bolivia's coffee share is small and its popularity is not high, Bolivian coffee beans are almost all sweet, with floral, creamy and chocolate rhymes that almost everyone will like. The flavor is very direct and easy to understand, and there is great potential to grow amazing varieties.

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