Machaca - Bolivia 2005 Verified listing

Teofilo Machaca"Last year we already had a contest, and seeing that this year there was, once again, the calling, we have prepared ourselves with my wife and children to participate, and we have sacrificed ourselves for participating in the specialty coffees, that is how this year I have presented myself alone, so in the future I think of handling quality coffee and, hopefully, in the market I will have a higher price to be able to sustain my family. " "My coffee’s quality has improved this year and doesn’t have coffee borer problems or any other disease. I feel better because of all the support we have received for producing specialty coffees, above all to keep on growing as producers. " "Participating requires a lot of sacrifice, for instance, this year I had a lot of problems with the pick-up truck I bought due to many mechanical problems. It took me more days than normal to transport my coffee to the warehouse; I even had to sleep two days on the roadside." "With the money of the prize I will invest it on my coffee plantation, have my children study and take care of their health, which should always be first. Last year, with the money I got I set aside some to buy myself the pick-up truck which is very useful for the job." "I have four children, one single boy; my family is very happy this year, they also sacrificed themselves a lot and also want to work in coffee when they get older." Quality Practices The ripe coffee cherry harvest is done manually, process in which the whole family intervenes during the four months that the harvest takes, from May to September; the coffee cherry is immersed in water in order to do the first selection of vain coffee beans. The pulping is done in a wooden pulper immediately alter the daily coffee collection is finished. The coffee is fermented during a period of 15 hours, after which the mucilage is separated. This coffee is manually washed with clean water coming from natural slopes that the mountains of the Bolivian Yungas region. The coffee drying is done on tables totally exposed to the sun.

Other Statistics:

Soil type : sandy clay loam Annual precipitation : 2.000 mm/year Shade type : Inga edulis