Edwin Copa Communidad 7 Estrellas - Bolivia

Edwin Copa has owned his farm in the small community of 7 Estrellas (7 Stars) since 2010. There, together with his family, he cultivates some of the best coffee that the Caranavi region has to offer.

Edwin has been a member of the Taipiplaya Coffee Producers Association (ASOCAFE) since 2005 and currently runs the dry mill in Taipiplaya. The association regularly gives its members training in coffee cupping so that they can better understand their coffee as an ‘end product’ and can perceive the connection between cultivation methods, processing and quality ‘in the cup’.
ASOCAFE instigated the program so that its members are able to transcend their role as producers to achive a more expert understanding of coffee from the seed to the cup. This training helps their members to implement practices that result in improved quality and/or specific flavours or aromas that will be desireable on an international market.

Señor Copa has been central to running the program, and he, himself, has put his extensive cupping knowledge and experience to good use in his plantation. He implements highly regulated processing on his farm in order to produce the very best quality coffee.

Señor Copa picks and processes all his own coffee. The harvest occurs from May through September, and coffee is sorted and then pulped on the same day it is picked. After fermentation and washing, the coffee is dried on drying tables. When it is sufficiently dry, the coffee is delivered to the ASOCAFE dry mill in Taypiplaya, where this year it was separated out from other small-holder lots as being of exceptional quality.

Señor Tola and his family plan to continuing improving their coffee quality year-upon-year, but they also want to increase the size of their farm using modern planting techniques and relying on the technical assistance that ASOCAFE is able to offer. The family also plans to build a small wet mill to have more immediate control over their coffee processing.