Episode 505: Bolivia Teodocio Mamani

I first met Teodocio Mamani on my visit to Bolivia in 2012. Long story short: he's an amazing guy. We got talking about the photo we had of him in a Chelsea shirt, and then of course we started talking football. He had the Chelsea shirt because he played for a local team that played in blue, but I managed to convince him that he needed a shirt from a real team so I sent him a Sunderland shirt. It's amazing to think that was so long ago, and this year I'm super happy to welcome this coffee back for its fifth year!

Canton Uyunense is a municipality of Caranavi, and lots of farms can be called a variation on that name. This is a super small lot coming from just 6,000 plants on two hectares of land. It's a mixture of Catuai and Catuai varietals. Teodocio also has one hectare of land that is natural forest reserve, in which he owns a house where he lives with his wife and two children. He is also planting a new area, which we should see start producing coffee in the next couple of years (and I can't wait).

This year is the fifth year that Teodocio has processed the majority of his coffee on the farm, which for me is super exciting. He uses a depulper that removes the cherry, then leaves the cherry to go through a dry fermentation process (aerobic) for sixteen hours, and then runs it through the scrubber section of the pulper to remove the final remains of the mucilage. He then transfers the coffee to raised African beds, where it dries in around twelve days (depending on local weather conditions).

I was talking to the exporter about Teodocio's picking methods, and he was explaining that the family uses a method called Ayne. With this method the most mature fruits are harvested each day, demanding the labour of 8–10 people (who are all family members in this case) to selectively pick, and to pick correctly. But because of this he gets more coffee that he can sell as specialty, and the cup profile improves too. Teodocio is just as passionate about improving the cup quality as he is about his football!

In the cup this is a chocolate malted milk (moo cow!) biscuit with a subtle hit of redcurrant that's smooth, rounded and super balanced.

Country: Bolivia
Region: Yungas
Province: Caranavi
Municipality: Canton Uyunense
Farm: Teodocio Mamani
Varietal: Caturra & Catuai
Ripe cherry colour: Red & yellow
Altitude: 1,600-1,750 m.a.s.l.
Processing: Washed
Fermentation: Wet
Fermentation time: 16-18 hours
Drying method: Raised beds

CUPPING NOTES
Milk chocolate, malted milk biscuit, redcurrant.

Clean cup: (1–8): 6
Sweetness: (1–8): 7
Acidity: (1–8): 6.5
Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6.5
Flavour: (1–8): 6.5
Aftertaste: (1–8): 6
Balance: (1–8): 6.5
Overall: (1–8): 6
Correction: (+36): +36

Total (max. 100): 87

Roasting Information
Medium dark - through the gap and you want the very first pops of second as you drop the roast out of the roaster into the cooling tray.

"Quick Look" Guide
Milk chocolate, malted milk biscuit, redcurrant.