Episode 583: Bolivia Teodocio Mamani Organic

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!

Teodocio's farm sits in the municipality of Canton Uyunense in Caranavi, and is a mixed lot of red and yellow Catuai. Teodocio also has one hectare of land on his farm that is a natural forest reserve, in which he owns a house where he lives with his wife and two children.

Teodocio processes the majority of his coffee on his own farm. He uses a depulper that removes the cherry, then leaves the cherry to go through a dry fermentation process (anaerobic) 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).

Like a number of the producers we work with, Teodocio is organic certified, but we haven't been able to sell his coffee as organic in previous years because we at Has Bean weren't certified. But 2019 is different, my friends: we're now organic certified (biodynamic coming soon too!). So we can gloriously now offer this coffee from Teodocio as organic, thanks to our own shiny new organic certificate.

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 by hand, demanding the labour of 8–10 people (who are all Mamani family members) to pick selectively and correctly. But because of this he gets more coffee that he can sell as specialty grade, and the cup profile improves too. Teodocio is just as passionate about improving the cup quality as he is about his football!

Chocoholics, come on down! This one's just dark chocolate through and through. There's a little hit of cranberry, followed by a whisper of lime zest on the finish, but throughout it all the rich dark chocolate is the star.

• Country: Bolivia
• Region: Yungas
• Province: Caranavi
• Municipality: Canton Uyunense
• Farm: Teodocio Mamani
• Varietal: Caturra and Catuai
• Ripe cherry colour: Red and yellow
• Altitude: 1,600–1,750 m.a.s.l.
• Processing method: Mechanically Washed
• Fermentation method: Dry (anaerobic)
• Fermentation time: 16 hours
• Drying method: Raised African beds
• Drying time: 12 days
• Certification: Organic

CUPPING NOTES

Dark chocolate, cranberry, lime zest

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

Total (max. 100): 87.5

Roast Information
Medium-dark - this coffee isn't forgiving. It needs to go through first crack and then you need to slow it down. Get it up t the first pops of second to showcase the chocolate, but don't let second fully begin or it will burn quickly.