Coffee has been in Bolivia for hundreds of years, but now a new generation of coffee farmers dedicated to producing high-quality coffee is taking the stage in Bolivia. For the first time in the country’s history, green coffee production has funding and support from the federal government, fueling the search for knowledge among dedicated young coffee professionals. The epicenter in the rise of Bolivian specialty coffee is in the Los Yungas region. Most farms came after a wave of migration to the area caused by Bolivia’s Agrarian Revolution in the 1950s.

And nearly a century later, this lot emerged from a single small farm belonging to Fausto Machaca and his family, a 4-acre farm near Caranaví in the Irupana municipality. Fausto and his family have been growing coffee in the Yungas region of Bolivia for over 50 years. Fausto carefully harvests the cherry, de-pulps, ferments, washes, and dries the coffee on patios and raised beds.

Since Bolivia is a landlocked coffee-producing country, farmers need help getting their coffee to the international market. Felix Chambi Garcia, through his leadership role at the San Juan cooperative, has become an important figure, helping producers with the logistics of moving coffee to the dry mill, where quality and traceability inspection during the preparation for export.