Mamani & Yanarico -Cafe Flor de San Ignacio, 2007 COE #1 lot!
Mario Mamani and Raymundo Yanarico from the up-and-coming San Ignacio cooperative are both second generation coffee producers and together produced the winning coffee for Bolivia's 2007 Cup of Excellence Competition.
Their farm, covering five hectares, is located at 1550 meters above sea-level in the Carrasco La Reserva County, Province of Caranavi, the heart of Bolivian coffee country. “We competed in the 2005 Competition and came in 11th place,” commented Raymundo. “We kept working to improve the quality and this year we won.” Raymundo and Mario plan to use the earnings from the sale of their coffee to improve the quality of life for their families and to invest in their production. “We are planting an additional 2.75 hectares of coffee this year,” said Raymundo. “We want to improve our quality of life and the quality of our production.” Upon receiving his trophy, Mario Mamani said, “We are very happy to have won...but we still have work to do. We will continue to improve the quality; we will re-forest our plantations, and increase our production.”
We paid the highest auction price (a new record for Bolivia) for the #1 lot. This is indisputably Bolivia's best coffee. To preserve its superb quality and to allow them to remain at peak flavor for years, we spent the extra money and used cutting-edge coffee storage techniques (which we pioneered commercially) by vacuum-packing the beans at origin (Bolivia) right after the pergamino (parchment) is removed -the ideal time to do it, before it is exported. We then stored these wonderful beans in our own climate and humidity controlled warehouse in Boston, using the best storing conditions for the lucky buyer that will enjoy its stunning, memorable flavor and aroma.
After three successive rounds of blind cuppings the International Jury gave it a cupping score of 91.50 and awarded it a Presidential Award (given to the very rare world-class coffees that achieve a score above 90 points).
International Jury comments include: complex acidity (22), bright acidity (20), lively acidity (18), citric floral (18), creamy body (17), very bright (16), bittersweet chocolate (16), Meyer lemon (13), caramel (12), apricot (11), tangerine (11), juicy (10), orange chocolate (10), transparent (9), peach (8), stone fruit (8), bing cherry (7), black pepper (6), sugar cane (6), plum (5), molasses (3), sugar cane (3), raisin (2), strawberry (2), vanilla aroma (2), pecan (1). The number in brackets after a description indicates the number of jurors that agreed with that particular description.
Those of us fortunate to enjoy this one-of-a-kind coffee cannot forget its velvety texture, lingering aroma, pronounced long finish and sumptuous aftertaste, long after the coffee is swallowed. -Nelson
Grown under organic conditions. Organic Certification pending.
Mario Mamani and Raymundo Yanarico from the up-and-coming San Ignacio cooperative are both second generation coffee producers and together produced the winning coffee for Bolivia's 2007 Cup of Excellence Competition.
