Bolivia FT Quality Competition

Bolivia – Celebrating Excellent Fair Trade Coffees

Bolivian Fair Trade and Organic coffees were recognized for their excellent quality during the Fair Trade Cupping Competition and Exchange, held Sept 28 to Oct 2, 2006 in Caranavi, La Paz – the Coffee Capital of Bolivia located at the end of what is rightly dubbed, One of the World’s Most Dangerous Roads.

 "They called it the Death Road but for us it is the Road of Life,” said Angel Condori, President of FECAFEB (the Federacion de Caficultores Exportadores de Bolivia). “Without it we wouldn't be able to place and sell our coffee in the international markets."

 If you’ve never heard of the "Death Road" you’ve never visited Caranavi, where more than 80 percent of the country’s green coffee is produced. But this particular weekend that long and treacherous road also the site of a lively coffee celebration – the First-Ever, Fair Trade Coffee Cupping Competition and Exchange. The event was coordinated and conducted by FECAFEB and the Bolivian National Cupping team with support from a broad international network of Fair Trade allies. From start to finish (over a 2-month process), some 132 samples of Fair Trade and Organic coffees were evaluated. The finalists highlighted during the weekend event were recognized as coffee samples of distinction – characterized by: full and pleasant body, complex flavour profiles ranging from bitter chocolates and cherries to lemon grass, floral, spice and a wide array of fruit, herbal and nut nuances, with bright acidity and a long and lasting aftertaste.

 Cooperative Coffees, a green coffee buying cooperative of roasters in the US and Canada, together with Fair Trade allies Catholic Relief Services (CRS), TransFair Canada and Coffee Labs International took the initiative to support this event in the absence of the Cup of Excellence Event – cancelled for 2006.

“The idea to host a first ever Fair Trade Cupping and Information Exchange was planted during an exploratory tour of Bolivia in May 2006,” said Cooperative Coffees Producer Relations Manager Monika Firl. “Together with Mark Glenn, CC member and roaster/owner of Conscious Coffees, we ventured to many of the far corners of the Bolivian coffee-growers’ landscape. We were stunned by the challenges these farmers face, and we were inspired by their enthusiasm to improve the quality of their product and to improve the quality of life in their communities.

 Carrasco President Patricio Fernandez Bautista summarized it nicely when he explained: “We founded this organization in order to find direct markets and improve the well-being of our communities. We want to show the market the kind of quality we are capable of producing.”

“That refrain was something Mark and I would encounter throughout our travels in Bolivia. According to all accounts, private industry in Bolivia was happy to receive guinda (cherries), paying no attention to fermentation and other quality problems – leading to the bad reputation that Bolivia has historically suffered in the industry.  The need to learn more about quality improvement and the interest on the part of the producers to improve quality controls were compelling. When we learned that the 2006 Cup of Excellence had been cancelled, we decided that it was definitely time to step forward with an alternative.”

For the past three years US AID has hosted the “Cup of Excellence” competition and auction with positive impact on raising awareness locally about quality issues and for altering the image that Bolivian coffee conjures internationally. However, this year it seems that much of the US AID money that has gone to development activities (unless tied to coca eradication) has been withdrawn from Bolivia. This was an irresistible opportunity.

The Event

The focus of the Fair Trade Process for Excellence was not about choosing a couple of “winners” and a bunch of “losers.” Nor was the primary objective to organize an auction around the “top 10” (although the top-placing coffees will be purchased at quality premium prices). Rather, the primarily focus of the event was on learning and information exchange amongst the budding and very promising Bolivian national cupping team, and between Fair Trade producer organizations and interested Fair Trade buyers and support organizations.

 After spreading the word amongst Cooperative Coffees member/roasters and roaster allies, as well as out to the broader Fair Trade support network, the idea quickly took root and almost overnight, the essential financial and technical support was lined up.

CRS and TransFair Canada quickly recognized the long-term impacts a successful Fair Trade cupping event would have for these farmer communities, and offered financial support to cover basic expenses. Meanwhile, Mane Alves of Coffee Labs International generously offered his time and expertise to lead the final rounds of cupping and quality evaluations.  Likewise Cooperative Coffees roasters Higher Grounds Trading (MI), Just Coffee (WI), Conscious Coffees (CO) and Desert Sun Roasting (CO), as well as roaster allies, such as Kickapoo Coffee from Wisconsin and Havana Coffee Works from Wellington, New Zealand added their know-how to the mix.

For the Bolivian small-scale producers, this has provided critical information about quality and cup characteristics directly from some of their preferred buyers, as well as providing marketing information to help them promote their coffee in more advantageous markets with new buyers. 

 FECAFEB was founded in 1991 as a national organization to defend the rights and needs of small-scale coffee farmers. FECAFEB capitalized upon this event, and rightfully so for its swift and effective organizing and management to pull everything off on such short notice, with a notable rise in its public profile. Concrete results include: new producer organizations requesting entrance into FECAFEB: ample air and print time in the regional and national media touting the virtues of Bolivian coffee; and the event concluding with the National Minister for Economic Development sitting to lunch with the mayor of Caranavi and the President of FECAFEB - a hopeful sign for revamping national development programs to the benefit of small-scale coffee producers.

 The National team of cuppers was also extremely motivated and clearly demonstrated its first class capacity to prepare and conduct an activity of this calibre. These are the men and women who organized the initial qualifying rounds, prepared the samples, roasted and cupped along with the rest of us.  Their hope in the aftermath of all the fan-fare is to maintain this momentum – keeping their team intact and expand it to include a coop representative from each of the small-scale producer coop as their in-house quality experts.

 Bolivia is definitely a white-knuckle ride. It seems that every road is lined with a sheer wall of rock climbing straight up on one side, and a sheer cliff dropping down – hundreds if not thousands of feet – on the other. But nothing compares to the ride between La Paz and Caranavi – the “Death Road.” Shrouded in mist and dripping of overhead cascade spray, the road is wet, slippery and narrows down unexpectedly to just barely a car’s width again and again and again. Men and women from nearby communities volunteer in exchange for tips from grateful drivers, to stand in particularly horrific, blind curves and signal with red or green plastic flags, indicating if the road ahead is clear of on-coming traffic. These are what they call Ecological Streetlights, a service that has substantially reduced the number of cars dropping off the cliffs.

But Bolivia is also a country that represents big Fair Trade potential looking forward. This was an unforgettable event to help us better understand all that Bolivia has to offer, and an opportunity to reinforce our message of wanting to create a relationship with small-scale farmers that transcends the common role of being “just another buyer” of Fair Trade coffee.

This crazy “Death Road” is the same drive that all the trailers out of Caranavi must take to bring parchment coffee to the dry mills in La Paz in preparation for export. For all of us at Cooperative Coffees,  it feels good to know that we have walked at least some stretch of it together.