Waliki -Single Origin - BOLIVIA

White blossom, caramelised orange and green grape

Variety: Java

Process: Natural 72 anaerobic fermented - Filter Light Roasted

Suggested methods: Pour over, Plunger, Aeropress, Cold Brew and Espresso

Waliki – Los Rodriguez Family

This nanolot is from a small farm called Waliki. The name is a greeting in the local Ayamara language meaning, “how’s everything” to which the answer is, “all good,” or “Hakuna Matata.” The farm is owned by the Pedro Rodríguez and his family, who also operate an exporting business called Agricafe.

Waliki is located in the colonia of Bolinda, which lies in a lush, steep mountain valley around 10 kilometres outside of the town of Caranavi, in the department of La Paz in Bolivia. The colonia of Bolinda was founded 52 years ago and was once known as ‘Bolivia Linda’ or ‘Beautiful Bolivia’. Over the years this name was shortened to Bolinda, and it is now one of the larger settlements in the area.

Waliki is the Rodríguez family’s newest farm and was planted in 2016. The farm is laid out on a slope (as shown in the video below), and is planted with Java at the top, followed by pink and yellow bourbon, and Panama Gesha at the base.

This particular lot is 100% Java, a variety with a long history of cultivation across the globe. Its name comes from the Indonesian island of Java, where it was first introduced directly from Ethiopia by the Dutch in the early 19th century. From there, it has become popular in West Africa and Central America, where it has thrived as an interesting alternative to the Gesha variety.

Java has the potential to be quite profitable to small coffee farmers, thanks to its incredibly distinct flavour profile and high cup quality, and its high tolerance to coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease. It was originally thought to be a Typica selection, but recent genetic testing revealed it is closely related to an Ethiopian landrace variety called Abysinia.

How this coffee was processed

At Waliki, pickers from Bolinda and the state of Beni are hired to carefully handpick the coffee during the harvest. These pickers are hired by Elda and her husband Felix and trained to select only the very ripest cherries, and multiple passes are made through the farm throughout the harvest to ensure the coffee is picked at its prime.

Pedro draws a lot of inspiration from the wine industry in his approach to coffee production and is always innovating and trialling different processing techniques.

This lot was processed with experimental techniques, part of the Rodriguez’ family’s long term strategy to achieve the greatest distinction and diversity in their special lots. As Pedro’s daughter, Daniela shares: “We’re keeping a registry of all the data we’re compiling, to use in the coming seasons. It includes information on the types of tanks used, bacteria and yeast activity, ambient temperature and weather conditions… we’re working hard to identify the ideal processing conditions for each variety and farm.” 

Cherries are delivered to Agricafe’s state of the art mill Buena Vista every evening. After being weighed, the coffee was placed on a conveyor belt and disinfected, in a similar process used for wine grapes. It was then carefully fermented anaerobically in a stainless-steel tank for 96 hours without water. These tanks are closely monitored by onsite oenologist Iván Hugas, to ensure fermentation is as controlled as possible, and that only the desired yeasts and bacterias develop. Once the desired fermentation was complete, cherries were carefully dried on trays in a custom built dehydrator at a low, controlled temperature, until it reached 11.5% humidity.

ORIGIN: Bolivia

REGION: Caranavi

VARIETY: Java

PROCESS: Natural 96 anaerobic fermented

ALTITUDE: 1,600m above sea level

SUGGESTED METHODS:

Pour over, Aeropress, Cold Brew, Plunger and espresso