Bolivia: Brenda Palli, Anoxic Washed

With plenty of fruit sweetness and body, this coffee starts with orange before shifting into pineapple and finally finishing on peach. A delicate hint of clove on the aftertaste makes this a clean but distinctive cup.

This year we have been lucky to source two very exciting lots from Brenda Palli – one dry fermented Washed, one Anoxic Washed. They’re going live at the same time and we highly recommend you try them side by side to see the difference these processing methods bring to otherwise identical coffees. Truly delicious and fascinating stuff!

The coffee for this lot came from a mix of Sol De La Mañana producers from the Uchamachi colonia. The largest contributor was Brenda Palli, a 29 year old producer who's been working in Sol De La Mañana since 2021. Her farm, La Hermosa, is located at 1,580 metres above sea level in the colony of Villa Rosario.

To ensure only the very ripest coffee cherries are picked, it's not uncommon for producers in the SDLM program to do 7 or 8 harvesting passes across their plants, many more than producers in other parts of the world do. This is very labour-intensive and yields smaller amounts each pass, but ensures great quality. The downside is that for each delivery of cherries from the SLDM producers in Bolinda, the lots are often too tiny to process separately and so instead, deliveries from all the producers are combined and processed together.

So how was this coffee processed, you ask? This is an experimental Anoxic Washed lot. Both Anaerobic and Anoxic are ways of saying "without oxygen". Depending on the context, the words can mean different things - sometimes when you see these terms they’re indicative of totally different processes, sometimes they simply refer to a different tweak of the method within the same system.

In this case, “Anaerobic” refers to the more traditional method of producing coffees, where oxygen is limited during fermentation. That entails creating a sealed environment (in a plastic bag or fermenting vessel) with coffee cherries in water and allowing the yeast and other microorganisms present to consume all available oxygen (which they will do first) before switching to Anaerobic Fermentation.

“Anoxic” is a new variation on this goal from the Los Rodriguez team and Adrian, who is in charge of the Buena Vista wet mill. It involves the same initial steps of placing the cherries into a fermenter, but then a low-pressure CO2 flush is applied to remove oxygen from the system. This creates an environment without free oxygen from the very beginning. Because there is no free Oxygen in the system to allow yeast or bacterial growth to begin naturally, a viable yeast population must be added to facilitate fermentation. In this case, the population is grown from a sample isolated from a coffee cherry from one of the Rodriguez farms.

Compared to Carbonic Maceration, the difference is that the CO2 is not under high pressure - it is simply being used to displace the free O2. This process is the end result of the La Linda "Experimental" Washed coffee that we bought last year - this year we see it produces very fruit forward coffees, which are nonetheless very clean. The profile that results from this type of processing is very different to a typical Washed coffee, a fascinating variation that tastes a lot closer to what you’d traditionally expect from a Natural.

• Country: Bolivia
• Department: La Paz
• Province: Caranavi
• Community: Villa Rosario
• Farm: La Hermosa
• Producer: Brenda Palli
• Location: 15°48'56.8"S 67°31'40.9"W
• Altitude: 1400 – 1650 m.a.s.l
• Processing method: Anoxic Washed
• Varietals: Caturra & Catuai

Medium

This experimental Anoxic Washed coffee demands a medium roast to showcase its remarkable fruit-forward character. We're looking to preserve that intense sweetness and vibrant tropical fruit profile – orange, pineapple, and peach – while letting the subtle clove note shine through on the aftertaste. Despite being a washed coffee, this processes more like a Natural in terms of flavour, so we treat it accordingly in the roaster.

Roasting Notes

We take this through first crack and develop it steadily through the gap, aiming to finish right at the very end of the gap before second crack begins. The key here is maintaining a consistent, steady pace throughout development – rushing it will strip away that intense sweetness and fruit complexity that makes this coffee so special, while dragging it out too long risks dulling those bright tropical notes.

The Anoxic processing method, where oxygen is displaced with CO2 from the start of fermentation, creates incredibly clean but intensely fruity coffees. The Caturra and Catuai varietals provide a solid foundation of sweetness and body that can handle this fruit-forward profile without becoming overwhelming. This combination responds brilliantly to a measured medium roast that brings everything into balance.

For Home Roasters

Keep your development phase smooth and controlled – aim for around 60-90 seconds after first crack. You want to reach that sweet spot just before you hear the first pops of second crack. The coffee should smell intensely sweet and fruity, like tropical fruit salad. If you're getting that orange and pineapple aroma without any sharpness or grassiness, you've nailed it. This is one where patience pays off – don't rush to the finish line.

Tasting Notes: Orange, pineapple, clove.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean cup: 6.5/8
• Sweetness: 7/8
• Acidity: 6.5/8
• Mouthfeel: 6/8
• Flavour: 6/8
• Aftertaste: 6/8
• Balance: 6.5/8
• Overall: 6.5/8
• Correction: +36
• Total: 87/100

If you would like to find out more about how we score coffees, make sure to read our blog post "What Do Coffee Cuppings Scores Actually Mean?" by clicking here.

Our coffee is roasted fresh and ships quickly – which means it might arrive a little lively. Here's the thing: freshly roasted beans are still busy releasing carbon dioxide (a natural byproduct of roasting), and all that activity can make your brew taste a bit sharp or unsettled.

Give it a few days to calm down and something lovely happens. Those brighter, edgier notes mellow out, sweetness develops, and the flavours you're actually after can really come into focus.

We recommend resting your coffee for at least 5-7 days from the roast date on the bag before brewing. A little patience goes a long way.

That said, this is just what we've found works best – not a rule. If you can't wait, we completely understand. Tuck in whenever you like.