Bolivia: Pedro Flores, Mosto Washed

Think delicate, sweet white peach and a little pop of white grape. A twist of lime to it and a sprinkle of white sugar sweetness makes this a sweet but elegant coffee.

This is the second lot of single origin coffee beans we sourced from Pedro Flores this season. The first, released earlier this year, was a Dry Fermented Washed coffee, this lot makes a beautiful comparison by taking the same crop of Caturra and Catuai coffee cherries and processing them via the Mosto Washed method. Two very different approaches to Washed processing for two delicious Bolivian coffees.

Pedro’s Farm

Pedro Flores’ farm is in the small colonia of Villa Rosario, a short drive east of Caranavi city. The Caranavi province sits towards the western edge of Bolivia, on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountain range. Caranavi means "high place" in the Aymara language, one of the indigenous languages spoken in Bolivia. Caranavi province sits in a transitional zone between the high Andes and the Amazon basin, it’s known for its lush vegetation and has been dubbed the "Coffee Capital of Bolivia" for its ideal growing conditions and over 13,000 hectares of plantations.

Pedro has about 2 hectares of land spread across a ridge at 1,500 metres above sea level. He’s very aware of how the plants respond differently depending on the different microclimates they experience on one side from the other. He’s part of the Sol De La Mañana project, run by our Bolivian coffee exporting partners Agricafe. The program provides training in specialty coffee agronomy to small producers. Through this, he’s learnt to replant his land and manage his coffee plants more methodically to get both quality and consistency.

Looking To Tomorrow

Meaning “The Sun of Tomorrow”, this program supports small local coffee producers to increase their long term efficiency and quality of production so that they can better grow sustainable coffee beans. The Los Rodriguez farms play into this, with the varietals, techniques, and processing which they develop on the farms being passed on to the Sol De La Mañana producers. The producers get support in understanding not just coffee agronomy but cupping, the coffee markets, and much more. The coffee from these producers is delivered to Agricafe’s mill - Buena Vista - in the evening and processed there. Each lot is rigorously separated, measured and controlled to ensure the best quality for the coffee. In Bolivia, even a small portion of the coffee harvest earning less than a good speciality coffee price would be devastating to the producers.

To ensure only the very ripest coffee cherries are picked, it's not uncommon for producers in the Sol De La Mañana 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 coffee. The downside is that for each delivery of cherries from the Sol De La Mañana producers in Bolinda, the lots are often too tiny to process separately and so it’s common for coffee from these smallholders to end up as blended lots 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 origin coffees like this one from Pedro. 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".

Juicy Juicy Mosto

The meticulous processing carried out at the Buena Vista mill manages the fermentation, depulping and drying processes to ensure exceptionally high quality coffee - aided by their onsite laboratory where the coffee is analysed daily and its progress tracked. Through their exacting systems and traceability, alongside a world-class cupping team, they've been able to refine their techniques whilst continuing to learn for the future. Mosto is a Spanish word which describes fresh fruit juices - specifically before they are fermented. The same root gives the English word for this, used in wine-making - a Must.

Once the fresh cherry is delivered to Buena Vista mill, it goes through a de-pulper to remove the skin and fruit pulp from the seeds.

Starting with two batches of coffee, the first is processed using the regular Washed technique (depulped, fermented in a closed tank, rinsed, and taken to dry) and the liquids from that first fermentation are saved. With the pH and microbial levels closely monitored and managed, the next batch of coffee cherries then goes through its own processing – with the fermentation step carried out with the fresh coffee beans submerged in this mosto juice. Once the fermentation has broken down any remaining pulp, this is also rinsed and dried. Utilising these fresh, already fermenting juices for the second coffee gives the process a kick start which seems to help develop the complex, juicy flavours in these coffees. After fermentation is complete, the coffee is thoroughly washed to remove all remaining mucilage, then taken to raised drying beds where it slowly dries to the optimal moisture content.

To dive into Mosto coffee processing in more detail, check out our blog article here: https://ozonecoffee.co.uk/blogs/coffee-processing-explained/what-is-mosto-processing

• Country: Bolivia
• Department: La Paz
• Region: Caranavi
• Town: Copacabana
• Colonia: Villa Rosario
• Producer: Pedro Flores
• Farm size: 2 hectares
• Elevation: 1,500 m.a.s.l
• Variety: Caturra & Catuai
• Processing method: Mosto Washed

Cupping Notes: White grape, white sugar, lime.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

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

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?” and if you'd like to try cupping yourself, we've got a guide to that too! What is Coffee Cupping.

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.