Kaladi Brothers Coffee

Bolivia Caranavi Los Coloniales

Bolivia_colonial_caranavi

Medium to full body, sweet, dark liquor character.

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$15.50 / lb Fairtrade_smallchop Badge_small_usda_organic


From Bolivia to Your Cup

General Information

  • Population: 8 million
  • Urban Population: 62%
  • GNP Per Capita: $950
  • Language: Spanish
  • Life Expectancy: 63 years
  • Safe water access: 60%

Bolivia’s Coffee

  • Botanical Species: Arabica
  • Botanical Varieties: Typica is gradually being replaced with Caturra, Catuai and Pacas.
  • History: Initially coffee trees served as hedges or floral decoration on rural estates. Commercial cultivation began in 1950 developed especially after the 1953 frosts in Brazil.
  • Caffeine Content: 1.26%
  • Official Exporation: 125,000 bags.

The Region

Located 12 hours from La Paz, Bolivia, in the state of La Paz, lay several small communities and villages. Here in the southern end of the expansive Andes Mountain chain, life is hard and the challenges are many. This area’s ecological designation is known as “humid sub-tropical forest,” elevations range from 4000 to 5800 feet. The average size of the organic coffee farms here are 3 to 11 acres. The terrain is rugged and steep, and the mahogany forest is lush and beautiful.

The People

These coffee farmers are known as “Colonials.” During the 1950’s, wealty, large land owners took over this region. They confiscated the properties from the native people, then enslaved the people forcing them to work for them.

In 1991, through a government land reform, the larger landowners were made to relinquish their holding of these small farms and return the rightful ownership back to the families whom originally owned them. These small faarms still surround the parameters of the large landowners, but they are no longer reliant on the large landowners for their survival. They are independend and have the title to their own land. They now have freedom to search for ways to improve their income, their own lives, and the health of their community.

There are 41 small coffee producers that participate in our organic coffee project. These coffee farmers have been working with a Bolivian organic organization to learn ways to improve their cultivation practices, increase production, and improve the quality of their product. With these efforts, they hope to receive a better price and help preserve and improve their environment. Kaladi Coffee, through the importer of this coffee, has made commitments with these growers, their families and community leaders to support this project, not only by buying their organic coffee, but also working with them to accomplish goals that we mutually agreed on.

Bolivian Coffee

The coffee trees are older cultivars: Arabica Typica and Bourbon. During the harvest period there are three cherry pickings: March/April, May/June and Auugust/September. The coffee cherries are hand picked, usually by the women in the communities when the cherries reach full maturity. When the coffee tree is too tall to reach the cherries, ladders made of mahogany are used. The cherry pickers sometimes use a wooden pole placed in the croth of two trees, then balance themselves on the pole above the ground to reach the higher coffee cherries.

The coffee bean is a medium to full size. The coffee is medium bodies, rich in flavor and displays a delightful liquor-like aftertaste. Not only is the coffee certified organic by the Organic Crop Improvement Association, but also is Fair Trade Certified and meets all the shade biodiversity criteria to be certified with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center as a Bird-Friendly Coffee.

Citations

Care International

“The Coffees Produced Throughout The World” by Philippe Jobin