A black coffee arrives steaming to the café table I have commandeered as my personal desk this morning. It is a fine, bright Wednesday in La Paz and finally my day can begin. As I take careful sips of the dark burning liquid, I slowly shake off the dregs of the former night's sleep which continue to plague my body. Minibuses crawl past outside and taxis sit impatiently in mid-morning traffic. Pedestrians pass by, clad in business suits, sports kit or casual dress. I pity the caffeine addict who has forgotten his or her coffee this morning, in this ever-moving, hustling and bustling urban centre.
Many people associate coffee with the morning work routine. It is the highly-coveted pickup at the start of a highly-strung day. Others enjoy a more relaxed coffee culture, one in which friends unite over a cappuccino mug or an espresso in boutique cafés. As I sip the remnants of my morning coffee, I look beyond how we consume it and wander to a place of greenery, to the shady tropical forests that are home to Bolivia’s coffee plantations.
Bolivian coffee production takes place in Los Yungas, a region of high-altitude tropical rainforest in the department of La Paz. From above, the trees resemble vast heads of broccoli clinging to the mountainside. Below, the mixture of sun, shade and humidity provides conditions in which coffee plants can thrive. With an annual production far lower than that of Colombia or neighbouring Brazil, mass coffee production is not exactly thriving in Bolivia, but quality coffee production certainly is.
‘I want to show that here in Bolivia, we can produce the best,’ explains René Brugger, owner of Munaipata, an artisanal coffee production company located four kilometres from the municipality of Coroico, in Nor Yungas. He refers to his terrain as SHANTI, which means ‘peace’ in Hindi. And the naming is apt. Birds sing, the sun shines, flowers blossom and the stunning views keep on coming. Even the incessantly biting bugs cannot diminish the tranquil beauty and familial happiness of this place.
Read the full article on Bolivian Express