27Bolivia
142,000 bags (ICO 2009)In-depth country profile: production, varieties, classification, history, current situation and points still uncertain. Region: South America.
Bolivia is a small producer, in the shadow of its large Brazilian and Peruvian neighbors. Coffee was encouraged there by the government from the 1950s, notably to replace coca. The coffee growers come from indigenous peoples, Quechua or Aymara, farming small areas.
Practices are environmentally friendly, with almost no phytosanitary products. Grouped in cooperatives, the producers work with a real quality approach, supported by structures such as ACEB and FECAFEB. Varieties are readily blended, which gives coffees reputed to be smooth and very fine.
- Botanical species
- Arabica exclusively
- Altitude
- 500 to 1,600 m
- Shade
- Fruit trees (papaya, banana) and siquile
- Harvest
- Manual and selective
- Processing
- Wet process (80%) and dry process (20%)
- Sorting
- Manual
- Harvest period
- March to October
- Packaging
- 69 kg bag
Bolivia recently adopted a defect table inspired by the Colombian model, with two groups of defects.
| Group | Defects concerned |
| Group 1 (primary) | Defects that alter the cup: stinker, immature, black bean |
| Group 2 (secondary) | Defects that affect the look of the green: spongy bean, insect-damaged, broken, wood, stone… |
Two descriptions depending on the number of defects: Bolivia “Primera Arabica” and Bolivia “Extra Arabica.” Altitude and bean size are used to refine. In practice, coffees are often sold under the designations “Excelso” and “Supremo” (depending on bean size and homogeneity).
History
Bolivia does not appear in Ukers's world table of exports in 1922, whereas Ecuador and Peru do: its export coffee growing is later. The profile indicates government encouragement from the 1950s, notably to replace coca.
Ukers 1922, ch. XXII, p. 289-291 (exports of the producing countries), p. 290; Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026The country has stayed out of the great waves of varietal selection. Its orchard comes down to five names: Typica, Criolla, Caturra, Catuai and Catimor.
Criolla is not one more variety: it is the other name of Typica in Latin America.
The rest is the common Latin American stock, the one found from country to country across the continent. No national lineage has come out of it, and nothing here bears a Bolivian name.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Typica profileToday
The volume at the head of the profile, 142,000 bags, is that of the profile (ICO 2009). Cultivation is between 500 and 1,600 meters, with selective manual harvesting, 80% by the wet process and 20% by the dry process. The coffee growers come from indigenous peoples, Quechua or Aymara, on small areas, with practices almost free of phytosanitary products.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Grouped in cooperatives, the producers work with a quality approach supported by structures such as ACEB and FECAFEB. Blending varieties is common, which gives coffees reputed to be smooth.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Gray areas
- The exact year of the government program to substitute for coca is not established by the sources consulted.
- No Bolivian production volume after 2009 could be sourced.
- The founding dates of ACEB and FECAFEB are not documented in the corpus.
- The date of arrival of rust in Bolivia is not given by the available sources.