Bolivia: La Avanzada

Raspberry, blackberry and redcurrant layer up in the cup like a summer berry medley, bright and juicy from the first sip, before shifting to a sweet cooked apple finish.

This is the third and final coffee that we’ve released from Jeivert’s neck of the woods this year and we think that it’s a truly delicious Bolvian coffee. This particular lot is a Honey processed mix of Catuai, Caturra, and Typica, all grown on Jeivert’s own farm La Avanzada and processed at his mill. 

Off The Beaten Track

The remote, 200-hectare region of Irupana sits in the South Yungas province towards the most westerly edge of Bolivia, nestled among the Andes mountain range that straddles the edge of the country. It’s to the south of Caranavi, the largest coffee-growing region in the country, and boasts a similar verdant (albeit slightly drier), high-altitude terrain that make excellent conditions for growing coffee, reflected in the region’s strong history of coffee farming. Farms in Irupana are small (on average around 5 hectares) and around 1,800 people live locally.

We’ve only sourced coffee from the region a handful of times in previous years. It’s common for coffee from more remote areas of Bolivia to be blended lots, often made up of contributions from multiple smallholders, which means we can’t always trace the coffee back to individual farms. Thanks to improved traceability and deeper collaboration with the Sol de la Mañana program, we’re now seeing more availability of single-producer lots like this one from Jeivert. Roland was particularly excited about this new development for our 2025 harvest Bolivian coffees and said, "It’s a significant step forward - not just for transparency, but for recognising the skill and dedication of individual farmers whose work could otherwise go unnamed".

Revolutionary Coffee

Jeivert is a 2nd generation coffee producer and has 5 Hectares of coffee at his farm, La Avanzada. Meaning "The Advance".  This name came about because Irupana was the home of Pedro Domingo Murillo, a 18th Century figure who is credited as an early revolutionary and patriot for the independence movement of Bolivia from Spanish rule.

As this area is a little further away from Caranavi than most of the small producers we buy from in the Yungas, it means that it’s not practical to process the coffee at the Buena Vista Mill. The other Bolivian producers we buy from are processed by Agricafe, either at Buena Vista in Caranavi or El Fuerte in Samaipata). Irupana is too far to deliver fresh cherry to Buena Vista mill (about 4 hours’ drive each way), the small producers in this area typically sell their coffee as cherry in the town to traders. 

Going It Alone

Enthusiastic and a self-confessed coffee lover, Jeivert Pañuni is a second-generation coffee producer and was previously part of the Irupana Cooperativo. This large coffee co-operative bought and processed nearly all the coffee in Irupana in 2016 (how we first came to buy his coffee way back when!) and is where he started out in coffee and began developing his skills as a producer. In 2017, Jeivert had been learning a lot at the Cooperative but was convinced there was a better way to get the best results (and value) from the great coffees produced in the region, so he set up his own micro-mill to process his coffee.

This quickly showed itself to be a good choice, with the Irupana Cooperativo closing in 2019 as the number of local producers declined (many moving to Coca leaf production). His wet mill is equivalent to the family micro-mills in Costa Rica, just enough for his farm La Avanzada and a bit of cherry from his neighbours. He has constructed a purpose-built brick drying room with raised beds inside, protecting the coffee from the elements while allowing good airflow. It's modest by any commercial standard but has been transformative for the area. He has experimented with Washed and Honey processing, the feedback from Daniela Rodriguez of Agricafe was that the Honey was the way forward - both for great cupping results and because it's not such a common or popular processing style in Bolivia as Washed.

• Country: Bolivia
• Department: La Paz
• Region: Yungas
• Province: Caranavi
• Town: Irupana town
  
• Producers: Jeivert Pañuni
• Farm: La Avanzada
• Altitude: 1,500–1,750 m.a.s.l.
• Varietal: Typica, Caturra and Catuai
  
• Processing method: Honey

Medium Dark. Through the gap and let this develop a little in the gap before pushing through to the edge of second as the roast finishes.

Cupping Notes: Juicy, mango, lychee, papaya.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean Cup: 6.5/8
• Sweetness: 7/8
• Acidity: 6.5/8
• Mouthfeel: 6.5/8
• Flavour: 6.5/8
• Aftertaste: 6/8
• Balance: 6.5/8
• Overall: 7.5/8
• Correction: +36
• Total: 89/100

If you'd like to find out more about how we score coffees, make sure to read our blog post "What Do Coffee Cupping Scores Actually Mean?"