Taza Presidencial 2021 

When:  

This Friday, the auction for the 7th annual Taza Presidencial in Bolivia is taking place. It’s a virtual auction that opens Wednesday, Dec 8th with pre-bidding before wrapping up Friday morning with 10-minute bidding windows for each coffee.  

History:  

Taza Presidencial began in 2015 as part of a governmental effort to promote the specialty coffee of Bolivia. Since its inception, it has seen record-breaking prices of over $150/lb for top coffees, many of which stay within Bolivia for national consumption.  

The 2021 Winner:  

This year, the winner of the Taza Presidencial is a Catuai from Cochabamba. Though not the first time a coffee “cochala” (from Cochabamba) has secured the top spot, it is unusual – the greatest volumes of high-quality coffee usually come from the region of Caranavi. It was similarly surprising to see a Catuai – not a Gesha, Java, or Pacamara – securing the top spot. People close to the event say this indicates the attention to detail and careful processing the top scorer, Juan Calani Vargas, gave to this lot.  

The Auction:  

The top 21 lots which are up for auction – the top 10 winners plus all lots scoring higher than 96 points in the final cupping round – have extensive information about the producer, processing methods, and variety, which can be seen hereInscriptions for the auction are open now for those interested in bidding; exportation and transport are on the buyer, who can organize details with the Bolivian government after the bidding is complete.

Learn more about the Bolivian coffee market in the ‘Specialty Coffee in Bolivia: The Growth of an Industry‘ blog post.