Marco grew up as a child of coffee growing parents and decided to study agronomy. Many years he had an office job in La Paz and was actually not thinking of going back to growing coffee. But seeing the development and the impact that coffee has had in his country since 2019, the growing demand for Bolivian specialty coffee, and the growth of the industry in Bolivia itself - roasteries, specialty coffee shops, barista workshops - he decided to go back to the roots.
First, he started working at Asocafé, gave workshops for coffee producers and controlled the quality and fermentation processes at the washing station.
Parallely, he started growing his own coffee plants. He now owns 4.5 hectares on which he grows Pacamara, Geisha, Catuaí and Java. 2023 was Marco's first harvest year and he has already had his first successes: "I took part in national competitions with my 72hs fermented Catuaí. We won second place in "Best of Bolivia" (a national coffee competition supported by the governments of Switzerland and Sweden, among others). It's almost crazy that Marco can achieve such success in the first year of his harvest. "It only drives me on even more."
Marco named his finca after his daughter - Genesis. But it has various meanings. Genesis, because something is about to come into being. A plot of land is given a new meaning. Something is being created. Marco is a family person and he likes to involve his children into the work with coffee. “I wish she could already cup”, he tells us about the 11 year old Genesis. Genesis likes to try coffee. But she doesn’t drink it, of course. When you ask her what she would like to do, her answer is “The same thing as my father does.”
Marco is still very involved in the cooperative’s work and has been elected their president for the first time this year. When you ask the cooperative members, everyone gets along well with him as he is “an open-minded person, always there to help and to give advice.” His big dream is to go to Colombia one day and learn more about fermentations from somebody there. And to be able to finance his children a good formation in the coffee area.
