Today, we took a break from farm visits and relaxed.

Ever since we arrived in Bolivia from Japan, there has been some program every day.

We had to travel long hours, sleep in unfamiliar beds, eat exotic food, and visit farms at a height that borders on intermediate-level mountaineering.

Above all, it was my first time in South America. The other side of Japan.

I was more tired than I had imagined.

So, at the suggestion of everyone at Cultivar, we went out to eat ceviche for lunch today.

Ceviche is a Peruvian specialty, and it is delicious.

A good meal with everyone around is an enjoyable time.

After the meal, we had a coffee break at a nearby cafe.

It was a relaxing day with the cafe barista and everyone else over a cup of coffee.

Above all, I would like to thank Theadros, Cesar, and Drayedi of Cultivar for all they do for us every day, despite their busy harvest season and QC.

Tomorrow is the last day of this long trip.

I was beginning to fall in love with the city of Jaén .

 We took a domestic flight to a town called Jaén in the Cajamarca region of Peru.

 When we arrived there, the atmosphere was hot and tropical.

 Even though we are on the same continent, the latitudes are different, and so is the atmosphere.

 We also hit it off with everyone at Cultivar, an exporter committed to the principles of transparency and sustainability.

On the first day, we had a great time at dinner.

 The next day, we started visiting farms.

 I had visited several farms in Bolivia and thought I had a good idea of what to expect, but the Peruvian farms were very steep.

 First of all, the distance to get there is long!

 From our hotel in Jaén , it was a four-to-five-hour drive (10 hours round trip).

 Also, since the farm’s location is at a high altitude, we had to climb further up the mountain.

 The unpaved road is a death road that runs along the mountain’s cliff edge.

 And then, after getting to the farm, it’s tough again. You have to walk to the center of the farm. It’s just walking. The farmers seemed used to climbing up and down, even in sandals. What kind of muscle strength is that?

We also had lunch at the farm.

 When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It is an ironclad rule of travel.

 The portions are always generous. The hospitality is outstanding. Gracias (thank you)

Day 3

 The long-awaited visit to the farm of Flores and his son was the most challenging part of the trip, no exaggeration.

 Although it was 2,000 meters above sea level, the heat was intense. It was so hot.

As a buyer of their coffee, one of my main missions on this trip was to be able to give them roasted coffee.

 It was nice to see that they were so pleased, both surprised and embarrassed, to receive it. Good thing I brought it along to give it to them. Sorry about the crumpled bag.

He has a strong presence, but I hear he’s only 24 years old. (He’s 14 years younger than me!)

 After that, I felt completely dehydrated and exhausted from the food poisoning I had suffered the day before.

 I didn’t utter a single word on the ride back and turned lifeless. 

 The journey is getting more challenging, and tomorrow’s farm visit will be a glaring yellow light.

Can I go to the farm?

 Or, rather, will I be able to return home?

 The fierce battle in Peru has only two days to go.

La Paz is practically the country’s capital, but the atmosphere can change drastically in some areas.

When we arrived at the dry mill at 9:00 a.m., many producers were already waiting for us.

After reuniting again after 3 or 4 days, we started cupping.

In total, there were 55 cups. (About five sessions in total).

It was an open-air cupping at an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level.

At higher elevations, the boiling point is lower. It is probably around 88 degrees Celsius.

The cups cool down quickly, and we start cupping much earlier than in Japan, soon after the 4-minute break.

After cupping, we exchanged feedback.

We shared both good and bad feedback directly with the producers standing in front of us.

Everyone listened closely to our feedback.

We finished cupping all the coffees at 2:30 p.m. What a long time!

After that, we all gathered around a long table for lunch.

It was so lovely to have everyone accept my carefree Spanish so graciously. Muchas gracias!

I’m sad to say goodbye to everyone, but there will come a time for saying goodbye to everyone at Nayra Qata.

I won’t say” adios” (goodbye).

Bolivia is a country I have grown to love so much that I would say it is my second home.

I’ll see you all again soon.

“Hasta luego” (See you) and farewell, everyone.

With this, the Bolivia program came to an end.

It was a long but short eight days with this team, and above all, it was an enjoyable and rewarding trip.

For me, this trip was the first time I met all the team members.

I think spending eight days with wonderful people has helped me grow a lot.

I was so glad to be on the same team as you guys.

Be nice to me in Japan, too. lol

I wonder how I will change when I return to Japan.

Expectations are high, as is the unknown.

Like the waves that come and go, I would like to slowly take the scenery, expressions, and emotions from this trip, chew them up, and refine them.

After returning to Japan, we will begin a new mission.

The true never-ending journey continues.

Muchas Gracias.

I woke up to the sound of roosters crowing. In the chilly morning air, I brushed my teeth as I glanced over the plantation.

We all ate breakfast prepared by Andres and said goodbye to them.

Andres and Carlos, thank you very much!

We bid farewell to the Loa area and headed for the city of Caranavi.

We took a coffee break at a cafe run by Mr. Carmelo.

The drinks and sweets at this excellent café are top quality.

They process their coffee cherries, roast them, and serve them with absolute sustainability!

And the espresso is delicious! Just great.

We said goodbye to our base of operations in Caranavi.

Then we headed back to La Paz.

From the 800-meter elevation of Caranavi City, we drove up to 4,700 meters at a stretch.

It took us 4 hours to drive there.

The scenery drastically changes as no large green plants exist at this altitude.

We first entered Bolivia and landed in La Paz a week ago.

It feels like it was a long time ago, but the past seven days have been incredibly intense and just overwhelming.

Tomorrow is the last day of the program.

We will be cupping at Nayra Qata’s dry mill in La Paz.

All the producers we met on this trip will be there.

As much as I look forward to it, I am also sad that it is the last day.

One more day before we leave Bolivia.

I’m going to cup their coffee as if to hug it with deep, strong love.

Last night, we arrived in the Loa area after two hours of driving on one of the worst roads of the trip.

The owners of the place are Carmelo of Salvaje Farm and Andres of the independent fermentation team 4 Llamas.

We toured their farm and facilities.

Then, we proceeded with the cupping of their new crop.

After the cupping, we gave them our feedback, including specific and honest comments about what was good or not, etc.

They have invested in more equipment compared to last year, and they say that the processing quality has improved, resulting in higher flavor quality.

They seemed pretty pleased.

This trip was the first time for me to know how meaningful it is to give direct feedback on the quality of the coffee to the producers, a moment that brings people together.

Each year I want to meet the producers and the coffees they have grown.

On this day, I felt a deep sense of responsibility toward meeting them again and having their coffee.

At times gentle, at times strict. I want to continue growing together with them.

Everyone had dinner together that evening.

Andres made us some homemade Middle Eastern food. After a delicious dinner, we had a lot of fun with just one guitar. It’s nights like this that are the best.

Everyone was talking and singing, and the lights didn’t go out until late at night.

There are only two days left of our Bolivia visit.

Yes, two more nights, and it will be over.

I couldn’t sleep until 5 in the morning perhaps because the Coke I drank during dinner last night contained too much caffeine. With my head super heavy from the lack of sleep, Day 4 started. (Do not drink Coke in the evening when you are overseas. A lesson learned the hard way.)

Fighting grogginess to rise to my feet, I peeked outside. It was raining hard.

That was the first rain since we arrived in Bolivia.

A rainy Bolivia has a certain charm of its own.

Perhaps because of the weather, or maybe because it was Saturday, the streets felt somewhat tranquil.

Fortunately, no farm visit was scheduled today. We’d visit a wet mill of Agricafe.

It’s not an overstatement to say that Agricafe is Bolivia’s best, if not the world’s best, coffee company.

Beyond its robust doors awaited a world so stunning that it left me speechless.

What emerged in front of us was a giant factory dedicated to doing its utmost to create clean cups.

Meticulous management, systems, philosophy.

It felt as if the place was a military base.

We had two cupping sessions in the morning.

The first one featured coffees from small-scale farmers in Bolivia.

In the second half, we cupped coffees from Finca Los Rodriguez.

Rather than their unique flavors, the first thing that caught my attention was the fact that they were all clean. These coffees clearly capture the veritable identity of Agricafe.

After the cupping sessions, we exchanged our feedback on each cup.

Afterwards, we had a lunch break.

I’m grateful for their hospitality.

The meal was so good that it might be served at a trendy cafe somewhere.

After we filled our stomachs, we visited a wet mill.

It has super advanced facilities and a meticulous system thoroughly committed to the pursuit of clean cups. They really are on a different level. Amazing.

We had a chance to enter the laboratory, where we talked with in-house researchers.

We were told not to take photos inside because most of the data were confidential. They are closely guarded.

At the end of the tour, I asked Don Pedro:

“You seem to already have a near-perfect control system in place. What, if anything, is yet another height you are aiming to reach?”

Don replied: “We are modeling what we do now on the wine industry’s methods. But we are still far behind.”

Despite having the facilities and equipment that should be the envy of other coffee farmers, Agricafe aims even higher and looks further ahead.

Faster than anyone else, farther than anyone else.

I felt their strong will to stay far ahead of others.

Like Kaido Gakuen. (*An elite baseball club in a baseball comic series titled “Major”)

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Agricafe’s production environment is the polar opposite of that of the coffee farmers we’d met on this trip earlier. 

Each Bolivian producer has their own appeal.

Such a chaos.

Bolivia is such an attractive “swamp” that I will likely be addicted to it and stuck here if I let my guard down.

After the rain came a soothing breeze, as if to draw me further to Bolivia. (Like that song by Olivia Newton John.)

After having a quick breakfast, we went to Finca Isabel, a farm full of potentials.

This is a small-scale coffee farm run by Fernando and his wife Gabriela.

Most of the coffee trees planted are of Geisha. They are also growing a hybrid of Geisha and a variety native to Ethiopia called F1. (I got their laugh when I asked if it means Fernando 1.)

As does Nassia, their farm is also nestled inside a forest. A real forest.

Shade trees stand tall, creating just the right amount of shade.

These trees help control the sunlight hitting the coffee trees, and prevent weed from increasing. I see.

But they told us that the birds living in this forest eat cherries when they ripen.

When I asked Gabriela if she chases the birds away, she said, “The birds have lived in this forest for longer than we have. It’s out of the question that I chase them away.

We need to respect them.”

It is really moving to hear how they respect Mother Nature.

Finca Isabel pursues quality over quantity.

They plan to expand their farm, but not at a scale that exceeds their capacity.

Quality always comes first.

They have clients they have been doing business with for many years. They say TYPICA will be their last client, and they have no plans to increase the number of clients going forward.

This goes to show their identity, just how much they cherish quality above efficiency.

So cool, so romantic.

We had a lunch break in Caranavi.

Later on, we visited Celso, who has won many awards in Bolivia’s Cup of Excellence and Presidential Cup.

The farm’s slope was just as steep as others we’ve visited so far. We climbed to the top of the hill.

After exerting ourselves as much as we would when we climb a real mountain, what awaited us was a breathtaking view.

We were blessed to see stunning scenery again today.

Bolivian potential seems bottomless.

Every day is exhausting but stimulating.

“This is fun,” I whisper to myself as I go to sleep every night.

Hasta Manana!

Everyone in Bolivia eats a big breakfast.

That’s because breakfast is the start of a day, and people need a lot of energy for the work ahead.

After breakfast, we headed off to Montecielo to visit Nassia’s farm.

The road was just as rough as the day before, with lots of turns and ups and downs. A motion sickness medicine is a must-have.

Nassia’s farm is large and located within a forest.

Many native trees grow around and amongst the coffee trees.

She says that she could improve productivity by cutting down trees and expanding the farming area, but added that doing so would damage the soil and the ecosystem for wild birds and animals.

That would also cost her stores of minerals in the soil that have accumulated to this day.

The identity of her farm.

We often hear the term “terroir”. But it includes more than just flavors distinctive to the origin. It is also something that encapsulates the identity of a person who grows the coffee.

Nassia was really excited about our visit, and made plans for the day.

A full-course experience, from cherry-picking, pulping, washing and drying.

Wow! Great! Excited!

Little did we know, it was tougher than we expected. Really tough.

Her farm sits on a slope. It was such demanding work, climbing up and down the hill.

It’s no exaggeration to say that one of the highlights of the day was when I fell and rolled over on my way down.

After the hard work awaited a surprise.

We were treated to celebratory music by a band and a delicious meal.

Sharing this moment together.

This is another highlight of the day. No doubt.

Thank you, Nassia, Mom and Papi.

Feeling overjoyed, we dropped by (Well, after a drive through winding roads) a farm run by Elvis, who shifted from growing commercial coffee to specialty.

Nassia was eager to introduce us to him.

Because, she said, she wants Elvis to know that if he meets roasters from abroad, it is possible that they will decide to buy his coffee.

She needs to go to such lengths to get farmers to trust her.

A look at TYPICA’s direct trade platform may seem enough, but it is true that a stumbling block also exists somewhere before that.

That was a moment when I felt their hardships and struggles that we can’t ever know on the internet while in Japan.

Above all else, Nassia. You are pure and passionate. You are the best.

A dessert of today’s full-course menu was a waterfall, which is Nassia’s favorite spot.

That was a long drive, just as with other places.

The waterfall, too, had an overwhelming scale.

Showered with gushes of negative ions, I felt integrated

Such an eventful day. Really eventful.

Every day of the Bolivia visit brings something more than the day before.

And this is just Day 2.

I wonder what tomorrow holds in store for us.

The La Paz airport is located at an altitude of over 4,000 meters.

It took us a while to pass immigration control. As soon as we came out of the airport, we hopped in a car, guided by local tour coordinators, to head to our accommodation of the day, Nassia’s house.

After 5 hours of a bumpy ride through what is known as a death road, we found ourselves at an altitude of 800 meters.

We arrived at Nassia’s house. It has a spacious, neatly trimmed garden. Nassia is a young coffee producer taking care of her family farm with her parents and grandparents.

After we introduced ourselves, we had a lunch break together.

Nassia served us homemade juice made from naranja and mandarin she grows alongside coffee cherries. They were very sweet and delicious.

The meal consisted of river fish caught in the Amazon, served with coffee sauce, papaiya, and yungas potato. All the dishes tasted of nature and were delicious.

After lunch, we toured a station that processes commercial coffee cherries harvested nearby. We also visited a farm run by Hollando, a cousin of Juan of Nayra Qata.

The farm would be just a 20-minute or so drive away. But because of the winding, bumpy road, it easily takes more than 1 hours to get there. Our bodies rocked back and forth, right and left, we finally got to Hollando’s farm.

The farm has a good amount of shade thanks to tall shade trees.

It has a diverse range of varieties grown in different sections, such as Catura, Castillo, Mundo Novo and Costa Rica95.

harvested cherries are transported to Mr. Juan’s mill in La Paz. But the farm also has small pulpers and African beds of its own, which allows producers to process coffee themselves on an experimental basis. They are eager to learn.

You can see a beautiful sunset at Hollando’s farm.

This is my first time to see firsthand coffee cherries, parchment, pulpers, African beds and coffee leaf rust.

I’m emotional, seeing these things for the first time with my own eyes.

Coffee farms are beautiful. Very beautiful.

They are built on the dynamism of nature.

I might feel like I have already seen a lot. But this is still Day 1 of our Bolivia tour.

I’m sure we are in for more experiences I can’t even begin to imagine.