Bolivia: Victor Quiñonez

This is a sweet cup of stewed apples, with just a hint of grape on the finish and a pale caramel lingering on the aftertaste.

Our Green Buyer, Roland, met Victor in 2024 during his first ever visit to Taypiplaya with the Agricafe team. Each day of his Bolivian trip, they spent the morning blind cupping coffees, to then find out whose they were after. He loved this lot on the table and then happily discovered he’d already met Victor the day before! He’s a first-generation coffee farmer and this year is his very first harvest, so he’s off to a flying start. His neatly laid-out farm in the steep mountains of the Taypiplaya Colonia grows just 1 hectare of Red Catuai. The plants were raised for 1 year in his nursery (during which Victor won a competition for the best nursery among the Sol de la Mañana producers!) then out in the fields for just 1.5 years so far.

Victor is one of 18 Sol de la Mañana members farming in Taypiplaya. The program began nearly a decade ago when a group of independent producers asked the Rodriguez family for help improving their coffee production. What started as a small initiative has grown into a comprehensive support system for over 100 Bolivian coffee producers. This long-term development program functions like a school for coffee producers, offering hands-on training in agronomy, harvesting, and post-harvest practices. Through this 7 year program, smallholders are empowered to refine their approach to farming, adopting more structured and sustainable practices that result in healthier plants and higher-quality coffee. By investing in education and infrastructure, the program helps producers like Victor build thriving farms and produce coffees that meet the highest standards of the specialty market.

The Taypiplaya region near Caranavi is a lush, high-altitude area in Bolivia that’s long been a source of excellent coffees. The vibrant coffee-growing community is known for its high-altitude farms and rich biodiversity. It’s one of the country’s most important regions for specialty coffee, with smallholder producers commonly cultivating varietals like Caturra, Catuai, and Typica which grow very happily in the area. We’ve sourced coffee from the region in previous years but these had to be blended lots, often made up of contributions from multiple smallholders, which meant we couldn’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 able to showcase single-producer lots like this one from Victor. Roland was particularly excited about this new development for our 2025 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".

Victor, like many producers in Taypiplaya, grows coffee but doesn’t have the infrastructure to process it. Instead, he delivers his freshly harvested cherries to the Buena Vista mill in Caranavi, which is owned and operated by the Rodriguez family. This world-class facility is designed to handle coffee with precision and care, ensuring that each lot is processed to the highest standards. Agricafe’s washed processing is a meticulous, multi-stage operation designed to highlight clarity and terroir. After selective hand-picking, cherries are depulped the same day and fermented in tiled tanks for up to 72 hours. The coffee is then washed, graded by density, and dried slowly on raised beds or patios. The process is supported by an on-site lab, where samples are taken and measured daily to guide fermentation with precise data.

• Country: Bolivia
• Region: Taypiplaya
• Producer: Victor Quiñonez
• Mill: Agricafe Buena Vista
• Elevation: 1,700 m.a.s.l
• Farm size: 1 hectare
• Variety: Red Catuai
• Processing method: Washed
  

Medium Dark

We're roasting this one medium-dark, taking it through first crack and right up to the cusp of second crack – but not into it. This approach brings out the sweeter, more developed side of the coffee while preserving the brightness and clarity that Agricafe's meticulous washed processing is designed to highlight. Push it too far and you'd lose the delicate character that made this lot stand out on the cupping table; hold back too much and you'd miss the body and depth that Bolivian coffees are known for. It's a balance that lets Victor's first harvest speak for itself.

Tasting notes: Stewed apple, grape, caramel.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean Cup: 6/8
• Sweetness: 7/8
• Acidity: 6/8
• Mouthfeel: 6.5/8
• Flavour: 6/8
• Aftertaste: 6/8
• Balance: 6.5/8
• Overall: 6/8
• Correction: +36
• Total: 86/100

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.