Bolivia is a fascinating coffee origin that faces several challenges: underdeveloped road infrastructure, competition from coca production, and export difficulties due to being landlocked. Despite these challenges, Bolivia's excellent growing conditions enable the production of truly world-class coffees like this one.

La Llama is perched at 1,650 meters above sea level, making it the highest farm among those owned by The Fincas Los Rodriguez Project. This elevation creates ideal conditions for coffee cultivation, with mild days and significantly cooler nights. Such conditions slow the maturation of coffee cherries, allowing sugars to develop more fully and producing sweeter, more flavourful seeds that reflect the care invested in their cultivation. Adding to the farm's mystique, a dense fog often rolls in during early mornings and late afternoons, blanketing exotic coffee varieties like SL28, SL34, and Gesha. This fog emerges from the farm's unique micro-climate, where shifting temperatures and mineral-rich soil create perfect conditions for healthy, productive coffee plants.

La Llama is a small ten-hectare farm sits in the settlement of Villa Rosario, nestled in a lush, steep mountain valley just outside the town of Caranavi. Reaching the farm's highest point is an adventure—you'll need a four-wheel-drive vehicle to navigate the winding, narrow roads that cut through the rugged terrain. As you ascend, you're greeted by perfectly spaced rows of coffee plants surrounded by diverse native and timber trees. These trees provide essential shade for the coffee plants while enhancing the farm's natural beauty and biodiversity.

The name "La Llama" honours Bolivia's most iconic animal, the llama. These humpless cousins of the camel have been vital to life in the Andean highlands for centuries, serving as both pack animals and symbols of resilience. When the Agricafé team first explored the land, they encountered a llama standing proudly on the terrain. With pointed ears and a watchful expression, it seemed to claim ownership of the land—as if warning, "come near my land and I'll spit on you." Charmed by this encounter, the team named the farm La Llama, embracing the creature's spirited presence as part of the farm's identity.

The farm was an established coffee plantation with 15-year-old trees when acquired. Since then, it has become a centrepiece of Agricafé's operations. It grows several exceptional coffee varietals, including Geisha, Batian, Ethiosar, SL28, SL34, Orange Caturra, and Java. The farm also champions reforestation efforts, planting trees such as Tajibos, Mara, and Ceibo to enhance and preserve the ecosystem.

During the harvest season from April to November, La Llama buzzes with activity as 50 to 200 pickers carefully harvest cherries at peak ripeness. The meticulous care taken throughout the process—from cultivation to harvest—ensures that La Llama's coffee embodies the farm's dedication to quality and sustainability.

The Rodríguez family owns Agricafe, a business that produces coffee from its own farms and sources quality micro-lots from small producers in the Yungas region. Pedro Rodríguez founded Agricafe in 1986, trading his suit and accounting career for his true passion—agriculture.

Pedro began by collaborating with small producers in Caranavi, where he built a wet mill to process their coffee and taught them selective hand-picking techniques. By processing small micro-lots from each producer, he achieved outstanding results through the perfect combination of heirloom varieties, rich soil, and high altitudes.

Despite growing international recognition for its quality, Bolivia's coffee production began to decline sharply. Many farmers abandoned coffee for coca—though illegal in Caranavi, it offered lucrative year-round income from the drug trade. Those who remained loyal to coffee faced declining yields from ageing plantations, basic farming techniques, and leaf rust. These challenges cut the nation's coffee production in half.

In 2012, as leaf rust devastated small farms, Pedro and his family took action by investing in their own plantations. Fearing Bolivia's coffee production might disappear entirely, they recognized the need to ensure a minimum supply level and secure their business's future. They purchased land near their Buena Vista mill in Caranavi and established their first farm, Finca La Linda. "This is where the dream started," Pedro says.

Today, Agricafe operates 12 farms spanning 130 hectares under "Fincas Los Rodríguez." Seven farms are located in Caranavi, La Paz department, with five more in Samaipata, Santa Cruz department in Bolivia's east.

The Rodríguez family approaches coffee production with scientific rigor and innovation. They collaborate with leading specialty coffee agronomists worldwide to create exceptional coffee and maintain sustainable, healthy farms. Through extensive testing of various coffee varieties and farming techniques, they continuously improve quality and output. Their careful documentation drives ongoing innovation and investments to produce the finest possible coffee.

Gesha is a coffee variety originally collected from Ethiopian forests in the 1930s. It was sent to the Lyamungu research station in Tanzania, then brought to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953, where it was logged as accession T2722. Recognized for its tolerance to coffee leaf rust, CATIE distributed it widely throughout Panama in the 1960s. However, farmers didn't favor it due to its brittle branches and relatively low yield, so it wasn't widely planted.

There are actually multiple genetically distinct plant types referred to as Gesha, many sharing similar Ethiopian origins. World Coffee Research has confirmed that the Panamanian Gesha descendant of T2722 is a distinct and uniform variety. When managed well at high altitude, its cup profile can be phenomenal, known for delicate floral and peach aromas.

The lack of a standard translation from Ethiopian dialects to English has resulted in two interchangeably used spellings. The coffee was originally collected near a mountain commonly rendered in English as "Gesha." However, it was first recorded in germplasm records as "Geisha," a spelling mostly maintained by coffee researchers and germplasm banks for decades. The use of "Geisha" is problematic, though, as its non-coffee context carries specific connotations that many feel have been misappropriated for marketing value.

Gesha's global reputation was cemented by the Peterson family of Boquete. Their Hacienda Esmeralda won the Best of Panama competition in 2004 with this variety. The following year, their Gesha received exceptionally high marks and broke the then-record for green coffee auction prices, selling for over $20/pound.

The dry/natural process is the oldest and simplest method of preparing green coffee. Well-suited to environments with limited water access and hot climates, this process typically uses no water and requires no specialized equipment.

After harvesting, coffee cherries are dried until they reach about 20% moisture content. They're then usually rested for a few weeks in bags before being sent to a mill for hulling and export preparation.

The cherries can be dried on large patios or raised African beds—large trays with a mesh base that allow increased airflow for even drying. Best practices include keeping the drying coffee in shade during the hottest parts of the day and avoiding re-wetting by rain or condensation. Regular turning and good ventilation are also crucial to prevent mould formation.

To avoid defective seeds and sour fermentation off-flavours, it's best to sort the harvested cherries during the initial drying stage when under-ripe, over-ripe, and damaged cherries are easily spotted. After just a couple of days, the cherries turn a dark red-brown colour before becoming black, making it impossible to visually identify problem cherries.

Coffee begins fermenting from the moment it's picked and continues while there's enough moisture and high temperatures—conditions that favour microbial growth. This uncontrolled fermentation leads to the development of wild, fruity flavours and an increased perception of sweetness and body.