Bolivia - Mamani Family

Origine: Uchumachi, Caranavi, Bolivia
Variety: Caturra
Process: Washed
Elevation: 1,500 - 1,670 MASL
Farm Owners: Juana and Juan Mamani
Farm Name: Finca Llana

This coffee was grown by the dynamic team of Juana and Juan Carlos Mamani, in Uchumachi, a small and remote settlement 180 kilometres from Bolivian capital La Paz, in the heart of the Caranavi province. Caranavi is the epicentre for specialty coffee production in Bolivia, with incredibly high elevations, rich soil, and wide daily temperature ranges providing the perfect conditions to produce exceptional coffee.

Juana Mamani is a first-generation coffee farmer. She bought her six-hectare coffee farm when she was just 16 years old after working nearby on her sister’s farm for five years – long enough to save up to buy her own plot. At 23, she went on to win second place in Bolivia’s Cup of Excellence 2007 with a score of 90.78. Today, she owns the property with her husband Juan, and the couple have named their farm Llana.

Juana and Juan are members of one of the most influential coffee farming families in Bolivia. Mamani is a very common name throughout Bolivia, but in this case, we refer to family members Mauricio, Nolberto, René, and of course, Juana and Juan Carlos. The family is renowned throughout the region for the coffee they grow and the impact they’ve had on specialty coffee production within their community.

As members of the Sol de la Mañana program, Juana and Juan follow a very structured series of courses focused on improving both quality and, critically, yield. The curriculum hones in on one aspect of farming at a time and includes information on building and maintaining a coffee nursery, when to prune and use fertiliser, how to avoid and treat leaf rust, and how to selectively pick coffee. Agricafe has also helped the Mamanis identify which parts of their farms to renovate, repair, and plan where to replant new trees, with a focus on long term, sustainable, and ultimately profitable farming practices.

The results of the Sol de la Mañana program have been profound for the Mamanis, with improved quality and a significant increase in their average yield. Off the back of the program the entire family has become more confident, proactive and engaged, and actively share their learnings and experiences with each other and their wider community.

With the knowledge gleaned from the program the Mamanis have planted a vibrant new nursery, aggressively renovated their farms, pruned the trees, and taken a more structured and planned approach to the way they farm. Their yields have increased substantially as a result, and they no longer have the capacity to do all of the picking themselves, needing the help from eight to ten seasonal workers. Picking is very hard at Finca Llana, as the trees grow on a very steep incline, and the harvest requires between five to six passes.

Juan and Juana have also reduced how much of their own wet-milling and drying they do themselves, and Agricafe handles the processing of around 75% of their volumes at Buena Vista, their impeccable wet mill in Caranavi. During the harvest, the couple take the long two hour drive to the mill to deliver their cherry, sometimes making it back to the farm past midnight, only to start their next day a few hours later. While days during the season are long, when we asked the Mamanis why they were so motivated to continue working in coffee all these years later, Juan simply smiled and said, “because every harvest is a blessing to us.”