When I drink this coffee, I'm transported to a beach, somewhere exotic. I can taste tropical fruits, light honey and a clean, fresh acidity, like you get in a watermelon.
It's been a few years since we've had coffee from Bolivia but when we got this one on the cupping table, we just couldn't say no. Well processed natural coffee is always a delight and this is a great example.
In the cup, we're picking up deliciously refreshing fruit notes and a crisp acidity which makes for a light and delicious coffee.
In espresso, it's very much in the 'fruity banger' class and the acidity really shines when brewed under pressure. If you enjoy those coffees that are clean, but a bit 'out there', you're going to love this.
Origin: Villa Roasario, Caranavi, Bolivia
Varietals: Caturra, Catuai, Typica.
Processing: Natural
Roast colour: 134 (read more).
Suitable for: All Brew Methods (read more)
Q Score: 86.5 (what's this?)
You can get more sensory information about the coffee by looking at the diagrams in the images above. If you need to know how these work, just click here.
Taste and flavour perception are complex and difficult to articulate. We love sharing our tasting notes with you, but please don't rely too heavily on our reports. Your experience is what matters most and it may be different. We've written about that whole issue here.
IMPORTANT: Please read our short Coffee Bean Care Guide here.
Want to know more about this coffee? Read on......
The Villa Rosario area is part of the Caranavi district and is located between 1550 and 1650 masl. This lot has been produced by various producers from the area. All of them are part of the Sol de la Mañana program. There are around 40 coffee producing families that live and work in this area.
This lot is a natural lot of Caturra, Catuai & Typica. The families deliver the cherries picked every day during the harvest period. Each cherry is hand-picked one by one to ensure maximum ripeness and each plant would receive multiple passes over during the months-long harvest to ensure maximum yields.
In 2019 we visited Valentin, his son Rodolfo and his grandson Neymar for the second year in a row. Valentin’s and Rodolfo’s coffee are part of the Villa Rosario lots. After leaving the seedlings in the nursery for a year, Rodolfo planted Java on a 2.5 hectare area, in addition to 4 hectares he has planted with Typica, Catuai and Caturra. They hire 8 pickers for help with labour during the harvest season. Leaf rust is vigorous in this region as the altitude is around 1400-1600 masl and foliar application is still needed to avoid the plants being contaminated by the disease.
The cherries are harvested and taken to Buena Vista Mill the same day where they are processed. After some washing and floating the cherries were directly moved to mechanical dryers which are large square boxes with hot air flow at the base. The temperature in the mechanical dryers never goes over 40 degrees Celsius and moisture content and temperature are always controlled with meters. The coffee is agitated every hour to ensure evenness of processing.
I have to say when it comes to natural process coffees I expect them to be fragrant. But this one have exceeded that. The flavours in the cup matches the olfactory sensation. The coffee is very easy to brew as an espresso (no splurts, no broken puck) and is keep giving. Started with classic 2:1 ratio with 17g in 34-35g out in about 26-28 seconds. Pushing it to 40g out, did no harm to the flavour with very negligible decrease in body (more yield absolutely justifies it in my opinion). All in all, it is a fantastic choice if you’re a straight espresso person and love a bright cup. I have brewed one (1) v60 (also fantastic) even though I am very mediocre in hand brewing. So there you go. Jack of all trades, master of all.
Thanks so much for such a detailed review. Yeah, this coffee is so good however you brew it. So clean and yet so fruity!! Thanks again.