Episode 660: Bolivia Bebeto Mamani

The name of this coffee producer may sound a little familiar: Bebeto ('Beto' for short) is the son of the legend that is Teodocio Mamani. Teodocio owns Finca Canton Uyunense, which is a farm we have worked with since 2012.

His farm is located in 18 de Mayo, which is a municipality of Caranavi (and part of canton Uyunense). Lots of farms can be called a variation on these names because the land traditionally tends not to have a name.

This year is the sixth year that Bebeto has grown coffee under his own guardianship, and it's the fifth year that he has processed it himself too. Just like previous years, and as you'd expect from a Mamani, the results are delicious.

Bebeto used a depulper to remove the cherry, then left the coffee to go through a dry fermentation process for 16–18 hours, and then ran it through the scrubber section of the pulper to remove the final remains of the mucilage. Bebeto then transferred the coffee to raised African beds, where it dried in around 7–9 days.

The picking method Bebeto uses is called 'Ayne'. It's the same method his dad uses on Canton Uyunense. This method involves selective picking (not stripping the tree, like their neighbours do), and it demands much more labour and incurs much higher costs. But because of this method, Bebeto gets more coffee he can sell as specialty, and the cup profile is improving year after year.

There's a great balance to this cup of coffee - think a Cadbury's caramel sweetness of milk chocolate and caramel, with a crisp but restrained acidity of green apple cutting through and finishing with white grape on the aftertaste.

• Country: Bolivia
• Department: La Paz
• Region: Yungas
• Province: Caranavi
• Municipality: 18 de Mayo
• Producer: Bebeto Mamani
• Varietals: Caturra
• Altitude: 1,600–1,750 m.a.s.l.
• Processing method: Washed
• Fermentation: 16–18 hours
• Drying method: Raised beds
• Other crops grown: citrus, papaya, banana, wild forest

CUPPING NOTES

Caramel, milk chocolate, green apple, white grape

Clean cup: (1–8): 6.5

Sweetness: (1–8): 6.5

Acidity: (1–8): 7

Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6.5

Flavour: (1–8): 6

Aftertaste: (1–8): 6

Balance: (1–8): 7

Overall: (1–8): 6

Correction:(+36): +36

 

Total (max. 100): 87.5

 

Roast Information

Medium dark – Through first and keep pushing the roast up to the first pops of second. Make sure you get enough development to build the caramel and chocolate, but keep it quick enough for the balancing acidity to remain.