Gutierrez Family

Producers Don Paulino Gutiérrez and Mercedes Ramírez live with their seven children in the remote town of Taipiplaya. For years, the family sold their coffee on the often-unreliable local market. That changed when Don Paulino heard about the Rodríguez family and their Sol de la Mañana initiative – a training program that teaches small-scale Bolivian farmers how to boost their coffee productivity and quality, and connects them with international roasters.

After visiting farmers who’d taken part in the program and seeing its impact firsthand, Don Paulino reached out to the Rodríguez family. “I told them I wanted our farm to look as beautiful as the ones I saw,” he says. The Gutiérrez family went on to become the program’s first participants in Taipiplaya, sharing their newfound knowledge with neighbouring farmers. Today, the area is an important coffee-growing region, and the number of Sol de la Mañana producers here continues to grow.

• Region: Taipiplaya, Caranavi
• Country: Bolivia
• Variety: Caturra, Catuai
• Process: Washed