Flor de Café San Ignacio

History
Mario Mamani Mamani and Raymundo Yanarico from the San Ignacio cooperative are both second generation coffee producers and together produced the winning coffee of this year’s Cup of Excellence Competition. Their farm, covering five hectares, is located at 1550 meters above sea-level in the 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.”

Environmental Care
The farm has an abundance of Inga and Cedar trees which provide the coffee plants with excellent shade. Production is carried out without the use of any chemical fertilizers or pesticides although they do not have organic certification. The farm and surrounding area house a rich diversity of animal and bird life and a visit to the farm found a three-toed sloth lazing happily in the shade.

Other Statistics:
Type of Soil: Franc Clay
Average Annual Rainfall: 1,700 mm
Type of Shade: Inga edulis sp.
Weeding: Twice per year
Pruning: Sanitary pruning
Production practices: Fertilized organically with coffee pulp. Use of natural barriers, soil protection.