One of the biggest decisions a coffee farmer must make is selecting the best varieties of coffee to plant on their farm. The ‘best’ can have a few different meanings and a balance must ideally be struck between productivity, cup quality, and marketability. The varietal selection has a strong influence on the final cup flavour along with processing method and terroir. Agricafe, run by the Rodríguez family in Bolivia, has done an enormous amount of work in this area starting with their varietal garden, Finca Floripondio, located in Samaipata.
Finca Floripondio is home to some sixty cultivars of coffee. Each cultivar is given a number of lines in the plots, with ten to twenty plants per line, per variety. The trees are grown from seed, and the farm is used as a testing ground for each cultivar the family are able to propagate. Seeds have come from many areas in Central and South America, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Once a variety is in production on the farm, the family keep an eye on how the plants perform and what interventions are required to maintain cup quality and productivity. They’ll taste the coffee at their laboratory and solicit feedback from their customers on the cup profile produced. Once they know they can grow the coffee on their farms, and they have a market for it, then planting out on a larger scale can begin.
We have been fascinated with the work the Rodríguez family do at Finca Floripondio for some years now and the sheer number of varietals that are grown on their farms. We were recently fortunate to taste through some of the varieties from the very beginnings of this year’s new crop during Daniela Rodríguez’s visit to our roastery. On the table were: Caturra, Pacamara, Java, SL28, Batian, Geisha, and Catuaí. The crowd favourite was the Java with its sweet floral flavour and rounded body.
The family’s Java seedstock originated from Nicaragua and was first planted at another of their farms, Finca La Linda. It has adapted exceptionally well to the growing conditions in Bolivia; the plant is lively, with a healthy growth, and the cup quality is exceptional. Based on their initial assessments they decided to plant more, and it now accounts for 35% of the varieties grown. Pacamara also does well in Bolivian conditions and has a loyal fanbase. These two cultivars with the more traditional varieties, Caturra, Catuaí, and Typica, account for most of the family’s production. Caturra and Catuaí are particularly strong plants with well-balanced flavour profiles.
Another coffee on the table that caught our attention was the Batian. Batian was originally developed by the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya as an option for areas prone to Coffee Berry Disease and Coffee Leaf Rust. We know it in Kenya for a subdued berry fruit profile, but in the growing conditions in Bolivia, it has very interesting, pronounced spice notes. We will keep an eye on this varietal on our next buying trip this year.
Monmouth x
