If you've tried one of our Bolivian coffees lately, you might have spotted an unfamiliar term on the label: Coco Natural. It isn't a reference to coconuts, or a promise that the coffee will taste of chocolate. The name is associated with the box dryers used by the Rodríguez family at their Buena Vista mill in Bolivia, and the deep cocoa-brown colour the cherries develop as they dry.
Who's behind it
The Coco Natural process was developed by the Rodríguez family at their Buena Vista mill in Caranavi, Bolivia. Pedro Rodríguez founded Agricafe as an exporter in 1986, and today he runs it with his children, Pedro Pablo and Daniela. Alongside the mill, the family farm 12 estates under the Fincas Los Rodríguez name and run Sol de la Mañana, a mentoring programme for local producers. That matters in a country whose producers have often had less visibility than those in better-known origins.
The family test everything, from cherry selection to post-harvest processing, and have drawn on researchers including Professor Flávio Borém of Brazil's Federal University of Lavras. Coco Natural is one result: a natural process with a staged drying method, finished in stationary box dryers adapted for coffee.
How Coco Natural processing works
Like other natural coffees, Coco Natural starts with cherry selection. The Rodríguez family look for ripe fruit, using colour and sugar levels to judge maturity. They've found the ripest, almost purple cherries give the best cup, though colour varies by variety, so it's never the only measure.
Once picked, the cherries are delivered to Buena Vista and sorted by density in water. Floaters, which are often underdeveloped or damaged, are separated from the denser fruit. The selected cherries then pass through a machine the family call 'La Maravilla', Spanish for 'the wonder', which disinfects them as part of the mill's handling process. Installed in 2024, it uses water more efficiently than the previous setup.
The cherries then begin drying on raised beds or patios, turned every 30 minutes so moisture escapes evenly. This first stage usually lasts around 48 to 72 hours, though it can take longer depending on the coffee and the weather. The cherries stay whole throughout, which is what makes this a natural, before they move into the coco dryers.
What are coco dryers?
Coco dryers are stationary box dryers: large steel containers that push a gentle flow of warm air up through the coffee bed. Equipment like this is usually associated with drying cocoa, and Pedro Rodríguez first came across stationary box dryers in peanut production. The family adapted the approach for coffee, using controlled airflow to dry the cherries slowly and evenly.
Temperatures stay below 40°C, though exact settings vary by lot. The cherries are turned by hand every hour so moisture loss is even through the bed. Most lots spend 40 to 50 hours in the dryers, and some take longer.
The target is a moisture content of around 11.5%, at which point the dried coffee is rested and sent for milling and quality sorting. As the cherries dry, they turn a deep reddish-brown that looks a lot like cocoa, another link to the name.
The key advantage is consistency. Sun-drying can work beautifully, but cloud cover, humidity and unexpected rain can slow the process or make it harder to manage. The coco dryers give the Rodríguez family control over airflow and temperature for the later stage of drying, so the weather has less say. Moisture loss becomes more repeatable from batch to batch.
What does Coco Natural coffee taste like?
Natural processing can produce some wonderfully fruit-forward coffees, but the results depend on the variety, growing conditions, ripeness, fermentation and drying. Poorly managed naturals can turn overly fermented or boozy. A steady, even finish in the dryers keeps that risk down while holding on to the character built up during the natural process.
Our past Coco Natural lots show the range. Don Carlos, a Catuai, gave us tinned peaches and bright lime when hot, with plum taking over as it cooled. A lot from Las Alasitas opened with sour cherry, moved into soft apricot and finished with a creamy note of overripe banana. Same process, different farms, different cups. Browse our current Bolivian coffees.
A dryer from another crop
Bolivia's coffee sector has had a hard couple of decades: ageing plantations, limited infrastructure, and competition from crops that can offer farmers a more reliable return. By 2012, leaf rust was wiping out production on many small farms, and the Rodríguez family feared coffee in Bolivia could disappear altogether. That year, they started planting their own farms.
Coco Natural comes from the same habit of trying things. Sometimes that means a new fermentation protocol or yeast strain. Here it meant looking at a dryer built for another crop and asking what it could do for coffee.
Curious about other processing methods? Explore our full Coffee Processing Explained series.