Pedro Rodríguez is a brilliant and passionate pioneer of specialty coffee in Bolivia.
He has worked in coffee for a long time, originally entering the industry in 1986. Over the last three decades he has built a visionary business called Agricafe, which today is led by Pedro and his children Daniela and Pedro Pablo. The trio are dedicated to restoring and elevating Bolivian coffee, and they are admirably relentless in this pursuit.
When we first started working with the family in 2011, their focus was on sourcing coffee from small producers in the Caranavi region and processing it at their Buena Vista wet mill. From the beginning, the family contributed to the development of the producers they partnered with, offering education on best agricultural practices, and providing support and advice to improve coffee quality. They established transparent relationships with producers, passing on any premiums paid for coffees that stood out on the cupping table, which gave producers the motivation to further commit to and invest in quality coffee, and strengthened their trust in Pedro and his family.
From 2012, the Rodríguez family started to set up their own coffee farms; to bolster the amount of specialty coffee coming out of Bolivia, and to use their properties as ‘model farms’ to help train other producers. Today the Los Rodríguez family business operations include 12 pristine coffee farms located in Caranavi and Samaipata, with a wet mill located in each region and a dry mill in La Paz. The family buys coffee and partners with 200 smallholder producers in the Caranavi province and further afield in the South Yungas region, and they’ve established a rigorous and successful training program called Sol de La Mañana, which is focused on helping producers improve their productivity, quality and profitability.
We have worked with Pedro for over a decade now, and we hold him in the highest regard. He has ensured that Daniela and Pedro Pablo share his values and his vision and together they all have worked tirelessly to build the production of, and market for, Bolivian specialty coffee. Everything the family does is executed to the highest standard – from their meticulously organised farms to their pristine wet mills, impressive dry mill and their beautiful quality control lab.
We love the superbly sweet and clean coffees we source from the Rodríguez family and other quality-focused Bolivian producers, and we’re grateful for the family’s work and our longstanding partnership with them. As Pedro humbly told us, “It is our greatest satisfaction to be part of, and contribute to, the development of the coffee-growing culture in Bolivia.”
