Crown Jewel Bolivia Organic Anaerobic Washed Yulissa Chambi San Lorenzo Municipality

Taste

Taste Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Who are your favorite coffee prodigies? Oh? You don’t know have any? Well, Yulissa Chambi is on the top of our list (and should be on yours too) 

In 2022 she had her first harvest and by 2023, her name speaks volumes in the industry. She was only 21 at the time but has had plenty of experience in coffee beforehand. On her family farm she saw the vision of specialty coffee and put in the effort to learn more about the supply chain, coffee production and developing her palate. She began renovating her family farm at the start of 2019 and since then has made large strides to get where she is. With the help of her extended family, their small operation performs an impressive feat to execute some of our favorite coffees of the year.  

In the cup there is a gradient of fruit and citrus in the form of mandarin orange, starfruit, orange creamsicle, green apple and white peach. A seamless experience from top to bottom you will also find a touch of jasmine, cardamom and raw honey. The slight floral and spice notes meld beautifully with a plethora of fruit notes to create this very airy, soft and silky cup.  

Not an in-your-face-anaerobic (should I trademark this?) this cup is for those that want to ease their way into the world of new processing flavors. It’s apparent that there is a bit of extra processing but not overwhelming in any way. Think of it as a little bit extra oomph to the coffee.  

Slight side bar, I had to look up oomph was an actual word. Oomph, noun, pronounced oomf; the quality of being exciting or energetic. Synonyms include pizazz, zeal, exuberant, etc. Other sentence examples: You can always expect Yulissa’s coffee to have some oomph to it. Crown Jewels always have that extra oomph. Other coffee importers don’t have that oomph like Royal Coffee. You get the idea?  

If you are looking to add a little pizazz to your menu and delight your customers, be sure to grab a box of this exclusive coffee from Bolivia.  

Source

Source Analysis by Charlie Habegger 

Yulissa Chambi is a young and accomplished Bolivian coffee professional whose coffee we are proud to feature for the fourth consecutive year as a Crown Jewel. Doing so year after year has not been easy—her coffee is limited and highly sought after locally thanks to her rapid ascent in Bolivia’s national specialty scene.  

Yulissa’s personal story is a nice analog to the recent history of Bolivia’s specialty coffee as a whole. After decades of neglect, the family farm was recently reinvigorated and now produces some of the tastiest washed coffee anywhere in South America. Along the way, Yulissa became Bolivia’s National Aeropress Champion and very involved barista. As a producer, Yulissa’s particular ability to use anaerobic fermentation, not as a transformation effort but as a subtle enrichment of the already abundant botanical flavors of her fully washed coffee, is among the best applications of the method we taste each year from anywhere.  

This year’s lot from Yulissa’s farm is lightly creamy with a sweetness evocative of a tropical fruit smoothie. There’s a balanced florality that ranges from soft jasmine to invigorating juniper, and the kind of tart center of red fruits and complex brown sugars that come from perfectly ripe picked cherry.  

Caranavi and its Coffee  

Bolivia is South America’s only landlocked coffee producing country and is the smallest exporter of coffee on the continent. The quality of that coffee, however, is hardly lacking in diversity or beauty. Bolivia’s terrain and geography is gifted for arabica production, particularly throughout the Yungas region (Yungas is Aymara for “warm lands”), whose mountain ranges connect the low and humid Amazonian basin to the dry Andean altiplano above. The most productive municipality in the Yungas is by far Caranavi, which still produces an estimated 85-90% of Bolivia’s specialty coffee.   

Caranavi’s landscape is steep, humid, rugged, and remote, with natural forest making up more than 90% of the territory. Historically coffee in this area was challenged by a devastating combination of isolation and national disinvestment. These days, after decades of struggle, coffee farms in Caranavi’s high and tropical climate tend to be well-managed and diversified, but small. Coffee growers here still often don’t have processing equipment or transportation of their own, a massive hurdle in such territory.  

Yulissa’s Farm  

In the 1980s, Yulissa’s family purchased a 20-hectare piece of property in the Yungas region, in the mountains surrounding the small valley city of Caranavi. At the time, the farm was pure jungle; no roads or services of any kind could access it.   

5 years after the purchase, her family planted 4 hectares of coffee. For the next 40 years the family land was cherished for its location and refuge from city life in La Paz, but due to declining coffee prices and disinvestment from Bolivia’s government, coffee production was not a viable trade for the family, and was therefore not an investment worth making. Over the years the coffee trees aged and lost their production, and the family remained in the city where occupational prospects were far better.  

In 2019, Yulissa’s generation decided it was time to renovate the farm. Bolivia’s specialty coffee had developed to the point where Caranavi was seen as an area of high terroir potential, and Yulissa herself, barely out of secondary school, was interested in the bubbling specialty roaster and barista culture in the city.   

Between 2019 and 2021, the original 4 hectares were re-planted, along with 3 new ones. With this newly invigorated coffee under her control, Yulissa dedicated herself to producing coffee the best way possible. In the process she also set to learning the rest of the value chain, from milling to roasting and barismo—the art and practice of being a barista, which strangely has no English equivalent.  

The 7 hectares of coffee is managed by extended family and neighbors throughout the year. During harvest the family employs 8 pickers, and otherwise covers all necessary harvesting and processing themselves.  

Anaerobic Processing  

For this anaerobic washed lot, hand-harvested cherry was carefully sorted for consistency and floated for density, after which it was then washed clean and placed into closed containers to ferment anaerobically for 72 hours. After this brief whole cherry fermentation stage, the coffee was then mechanically depulped and fermented in a traditional open top tank for 20 hours, until the residual mucilage was mostly dissolved. After this second fermentation in parchment, the mucilage was carefully washed away and the parchment was transferred to raised screen beds to dry in the sun.   

Since Bolivia is a landlocked coffee producing country, all farmers, and microlot farmers more than most, need help getting their coffee to the international market. Felix Chambi Garcia, a contact of Royal’s who works with various producer groups in the country, has become an important figure, helping producers with the logistics of moving coffee to the dry mill where quality and traceability are protected during the preparation for export. Yulissa’s coffee was consolidated with a larger Fair Trade Organic shipment from the Cooperativa San Juan, with whom both Yulissa and Felix closely work. 

Green

Green Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano   

This anaerobic coffee sits a bit higher in density than the washed at 699 g/L for the Sinar reading. A below average moisture content at 8.9% and water activity in the below average range indicate good drying practices and ideal storage conditions during shipping.  

Red Catuai is relatively common for the region and in the 1940’s a Brazilian research institution developed this cultivar, a cross between Caturra and Mundo Nuvo. Red represents the cherry being red. You can often find a yellow Catuai and the color is to help distinguish between plants. It’s more susceptible to pests and diseases but yields great cup quality. 

Caranavi is a province, but also a city in Bolivia, that produces the largest amount of coffee in the region. San Lorenzo, where this coffee is grown, is a city in Bolivia on the southern region that has relatively good access to roads and it gets moved 5,000 meters up to La Paz, the capitol, to finish dry milling and then containerized at the port of Arica in Chile. Because Bolivia is landlocked, automatically prices hike up a little bit because transportation is not as easeful.  

In the early 2000’s the U.S funded anti-drug programs that included building washing stations, providing access to training and financial assistance. Cup of Excellence arrived in the country in 20024 and by 2010 the Presidents Cup replaced COE. All of these factors were a driving force to bring more focus to quality in Bolivian coffee production.  

Check out the roaster notes to explore how to get the most out of this fruity, sweet and clean anaerobic coffee from Yulissa.  

Loring

Loring S15 Analysis by Doris Garrido 

It is incredible what young Yulissa Chambi is achieving right now – she not only farms and processes her own coffee but also has become the 2024 AeroPress champion from Bolivia! Another one of these amazing things she does is her Anaerobic washed coffee, which I’ve had the pleasure of roasting. 

Jasmine, clean, fruity, green apple, lemongrass, sparkling acidity, sweet, white peach, silky body – what a delightful cup of coffee! Yulissa’s coffee always manages to surprise me. 

For this roast, I used the Diedrich at 50% capacity and started at 435F with caution, using 70% gas, followed by 100% just before turning point. Then gradually reduced the gas I reached 30% just after observing the color change at 312F. At this point, I had a 4:27 minute drying phase. I started the airflow at 366F as I was approaching the first crack. The development phase for this coffee lasted 1 minute and 36 seconds, and I dropped it at 397F. 

Stretching the drying phase with a shorter yellowing really brings out all the fruitiness, giving the coffee a wonderful cleanliness, along with those lovely peach and jasmine floral notes. It’s a very delicate coffee -elegant and sweet. I wouldn’t expect anything less from this young coffee professional who understands coffee at every angle. 

Aillio

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

We use the RoasTime app and roast.world site to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the link below.  

Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing! 

In my experience, Bolivian coffees are few and far in between. We have been lucky, however, to have Yulissa Chambi’s coffees on the menu for a few years now, and they’re nothing less than exemplary of the region, and of top-notch coffee processing in general. Just looking at and smelling the green, I was enamored of this coffee after opening up the bag.  

Anaerobic coffees have the reputation of being super fruity and, often times, covered in silverskin that results in chaff in the roaster. This is not one of those coffees. Clean, polished greens and what are clearly very high-density grains led me towards the conclusion that I should roast this coffee with plenty of heat from the outset, and not be shy with the airflow.  

I started my roast off at 464F, P8 power, and F2 fan, and awaited the peak rate of change of 37F/min to increase airflow to F3 and decrease power to P7. I increased airflow further to F4 just after yellowing, then awaited 360F temperature before taking airflow to F5 and power to P6. This coffee had plenty of ‘momentum’ behind it, and continued cooking from here without heavy heat application. I know Bolivian coffees to be complex, delicate, and delicious as light roasts, but I was surpised by the early first crack at 378F / 6:42 and allowed the coffee to lose a bit of its heat. I dialed back airflow to allow the coffee to continue to develop, then finally dropped at 394F / 8:39 with a whopping 1:57 of post-crack development.  

The coffee didn’t look particularly light coming out of the drum, but I knew that I wouldn’t be risking any roasty flavors with my low end temperature. The cup was super complex and gentle. The florals hit right off the bat with chrysanthemum and geranium, and the flavor dissipated quickly into vanilla and Turkish delight covered with powdered sugar. Can a coffee be simultaneously tealike and desserty? Turns out the answer is yes.  

This coffee is going to be super flexible in the roaster. I imagine that at darker roast levels, you’re really going to get some creamy texture and sticky sweetness. What I can’t imagine is someone not liking this coffee. If you don’t, I recommend seeing a doctor right away, because this coffee is sick.  

You can follow along with my roast here at roast.world: https://roast.world/egilman/roasts/VOqEVD3iIv-hPUM7hw2HU 

IKAWA

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

On the light density roast it was soft, sweet, tangy, a little chocolatey but also muted for what I would hope this coffee tastes like. The high density roast was a bit fruiter with tangy plum character, cooked carrot, vanilla frosting and raspberry. Overall sweeter and more round, it made the fruit flavors encouraged by the anaerobic processing really pop.   

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

• Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 
• Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast 

Brew

Brew Analysis by Joshua Wismans 

Yulissa has done it again this year. This anaerobic washed lot shines with a clarity that you rarely get in anaerobic coffees.  On pourover and drip, expect to find a crisp lemon acidity, melon sweetness, and blackberry juiciness.

We decided to lean into the crisp cleanliness of this coffee and dial in our brew with the V60, which brought an almost minerality to the brew.  I say this in the most complimentary way possible, like how it’s sometimes sought after in some types of wine. This coffee would honestly probably pair well with oysters.

Our first recommended brew utilized a moderate grind but a slightly lower dose, utilizing a 1:16.67 coffee to water ratio. The TDS came out to 1.36 and had a richer flavor profile of caramel, blackberry, and lemongrass.

Our second recommended brew went with a coarse grind, but utilized a slightly higher does. This achieved a very similar TDS with 1.38, but brought out a slightly more delicate profile of lemon cookie, black tea, and watermelon.

Overall this coffee is fairly soluble, so you’ll be utilizing either lower doses or coarser grinds.  Each brings out its own great flavors in this coffee.  Either way, aim for a TDS from 1.35-1.4 and use a conical brewer, and you’ll have this coffee singing!

Espresso

Espresso Analysis by Asha Wells 

Such a pleasure to analyze this coffee from Bolivia’s Yulissa Chambi, and much like this family’s crop, I feel newly invigorated upon tasting what this coffee has to offer. Seeing this coffee is action is a treat, a truly delicate, fragrant and expressive anaerobic washed coffee. It feels like the best of both worlds, fruits and florals galore! 

Recipe 1: Off to a great start, the first shot I pulled stopped me in my tracks, this zippy, bright, and juicy little number took my breath away. While not shy about her acid, this coffee’s tartness was warming and spicy, calling to mind, pink peppercorn, tajin, and fresh jalapeno. However, the soft underbelly of this profile was juicy as in hibiscus and nectarine, yet delicate, think; bitter melon, lemonade, or young mango. ‘Sunshine’ was a tasting note of my dear colleague upon sipping, and I think that about sums it up.    

Recipe 2: The second shot I was drawn to was bolder, and more sophisticated, with added depth. Less tart than our first contestant, a slight tannic presence reminiscent of Ceylon black tea. I approached this shot with a finer grind and a smaller dose to see what we could glean, while my expectations were high from our first shot, I was not disappointed to meet recipe 2. With a forward palate sweetness like marmalade or baker’s chocolate and an almost alcoholic dismount of a mezcal or a dry Chablis. And before you ask, yes, still spicy, but here more in the vein of cayenne or paprika.  

This coffee has a little something for everyone, she’s super clean and still packs a fruity punch, she’s a real star, a sunshine dream girl.