A Bolivian Cup of Fair Trade Coffee Competition:

A life of solidarity between communities

Oct. 1, 2006, Caranavi, Bolivia
Chris Treter, Higher Grounds Trading Company

Caranavi, in the heart of the primary coffee growing region of the Yungas and the doorstep to the Amazon Basin, is hosting the first annual Cup of Fair Trade Coffee competition. Organized by Fecafeb, an umbrella organization made up of Bolivian small scale farmers, with the support of Catholic Relief Service, Transfair Canada and many other Bolivian organizations, the event aims to create a bridge of solidarity between coffee buyers and producers to identify the countries best fair trade and organic coffees. For months the Bolivian farmers have been toiling away, picking, processing, and selecting their best coffees to bring to the event to have cupped, slurped, and swashed around in the mouths of some of the finest cuppers Bolivia and North America have to offer. I, along with coffee roasters from Cooperative Coffees and New Zealand arrive with eager tastebuds and a heart of solidarity, in hopes of creating lasting relationships and conveying the amazing stories of the largely indigenous growers who tirelessly work to provide us with amazing coffees.

The journey to Caranavi is no small feat. It begins at a government checkpoint 13,000 feet above sea level where our minibus is inspected to ensure it can make the descent toward the amazon basen on arguebaly the world´s most dangerous road. Known as¨Death Road¨, it is cut into the side of steep cliffs high in the Andes Mountains, at times falling nearly 1 kilometer. Hundreds plunge to their deaths each year and we are immediately reminded of the severity as we stop on the treeless snow covered terrain outside La Paz to pray in the place where our driver lost the life of his 5 month old child just a few months ago when another driver slipped off the road and tumbled below into the valley. The white knuckled 8 hour journey is intense as we descend over 10,000 feet. Upon our arrival in Caranavi we feast on locally caught boa constrictor, guinea pig, and deer and reflect on how difficult it must be to transport farmers and their coffee along the only road to the capital.

The cupping competition starts with much fanfare. National newspapers, television and radio have covered the event for a week aware of the importance of finding a fair market for the 22,000 coffee farmers in this small South American country. Banners strewn the streets of Caranavi welcoming attendees to the competition. For hours on friday and saturday, we have cupped 30 different samples 5 times each eliminating coffees that do not offer our tastebuds a clean cup, decent balance, and full body. Sweet notes of citrus, chocolate, and vanilla are repeatedly accompanied by a balanced creamy body in some of the best cups.

Together with professionally trained cuppers from BOCAFE (Association of Bolivian Cuppers of Coffee), Mane Aves from Coffee Lab International leads us as our taste buds hone in on the top ten coffees of the country. Farmers and the national press arrive to eagerly await the final round of competition. We as buyers position ourselves to purchase the best lots of coffee and promote it to other roasters around the United States and Canada in hopes of further promoting Bolivian coffee in an act of cooperation between roasters.

Following the 2nd day of competition, Monika Firl from Cooperative Coffees and I are honored to eat dinner with the president and technical assistance of Fecafeb, the mayor of Caranavi, and country representatives of Catholic Relief Services who remind us how important fair trade is for the 95% of the country´s coffee farmers who live in the surrounding mountains. The relevance of the event and the importance of fair trade coffee seems so eloquently captured when Angel Condori, the president of Fecafeb tells us, ¨To many in the world the road from Caranavi to La Paz is only a Death Road. But for us coffee growers it represents a pathway to a better life.¨