Bolivia Taipiplaya

Our first time offering you Bolivian coffee! While neighbors Peru will produce close to 4 million bags per year, Bolivia will produce about 40,000, so this is a rare and often unseen origin in the specialty coffee world. We are thrilled to be able to share this with you.

From our partners at Red Fox (importer)- “Taypiplaya is one of the biggest communities in the province of Caranavi, the largest coffee producing region in Bolivia. As of the 2012 census, the population was 1,983 people. In 2023, Red Fox purchased coffee from 40 families in this community.

Caranavi became known for coffee production in the 1960’s, following Bolivia’s agricultural reform, and coffee exporting peaked in the 1990’s with heavy investment and interest from the private sector. Throughout the 90’s, coffee production was focused on volume over quality.

In the early aughts, significant investments were made by international development agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to focus on the production of quality coffee as an alternative to coca production. Funds were directed toward coffee infrastructure such as processing plants, producers received training on Good Agricultural Practices, and coffee production became much more technified and developed. Most of these agencies are no longer operating in Caranavi, although the German development agency GIZ and some Northern European non-profit agencies and foundations continue to work with coffee producers.

More recently, the Municipality of Caranavi and Bolivia’s central government have invested to incentivize coffee production through coffee quality competitions, and the Ministry of Rural Development also had a seedling program, referred to as “El Programa,” which sold coffee seedlings at heavily subsidized rates to encourage coffee production.

Over the past 15 years, coffee has become a big part of Caranavi’s identity and culture. The main structure in the town square reads “Province of Caranavi: Bolivian Coffee Capital,” and there are coffee shops everywhere. There are also frequent coffee events and competitions. People are proud of being coffee farmers and they are very competitive about who has the best coffee. A new, younger generation is getting involved, and the outlook for Bolivian coffee production is promising. Some older producers have handed their farms over to the next generation, and many producers are in their 30’s and early 40s.

Farm sizes vary, but on average producers have 2 – 3 hectares. For some producers, coffee is their primary source of income, but most have a little bit of everything, including fruit and coca. Coca is the most profitable crop, but, due to government regulations, farmers are limited to a quarter hectare (known as a “cato”), per lot.”

Recommended brew methods: This versatile coffee works well in most methods!