Trujillo (Boconó)
Coffee from Trujillo, Venezuela: Café Boconó, the country's first coffee geographical indication, grown at 1,000–2,500 m, fruity, chocolatey and prize-winning.
What is Café Boconó?
Coffee from the municipality of Boconó in Trujillo, an Andean state of western Venezuela, and the country's first coffee geographical indication, granted in November 2022. Grown at 1,000 to 2,500 metres, it is officially described as fruity, with peach, lemon, grapefruit and plum, nuts, spice and dark chocolate, balanced acidity and good body. Trujillo coffees won the national speciality contest in 2023 and 2024.
At a glance
2026- Species
- Arabica
- Altitude
- 1,000–2,500 m; reference altitude 1,225 m (SAPI, Café de Boconó specification)
- Harvest
- From about August in some areas (state governor, 2020); national season October to mid-March (Fedeagro)
- Production
- 410,000 quintales a year (Diario de Los Andes, 2024); 8,500 t in 2026 (government)
- Area under coffee
- 18,529 ha (Diario de Los Andes, 2024)
- Main varieties
- Castillo, Caturra, Bourbon, Tabi, Typica, Monte Claro
- Processing
- Washed, Honey, Natural
- Typical cup
- Intense aftertaste of peach, lemon, grapefruit and plum, with nuts, spice and dark chocolate; balanced acidity, sweetness and significant body (SAPI).
- Protected name
- Geographical indication Café de Boconó (SAPI, 25 November 2022)
Other figures describe 2026 and come from the sources at the end of this page. Updated once a year.
Trujillo is where Venezuela’s coffee revival is easiest to taste. In this Andean state, and above all in the municipality of Boconó, small family farms grow arabica up to 2,500 metres under shade trees. Café Boconó became the country’s first coffee geographical indication, and Trujillo growers won the national speciality contest two years running.
The short version
- Café Boconó: Venezuela’s first coffee geographical indication, granted in November 2022.
- 1,000–2,500 metres, around a reference altitude of 1,225 m.
- Fruit, nuts and dark chocolate, with balanced acidity and good body.
- 18,529 hectares and about 410,000 quintales a year.
- National champions in 2023 and 2024.
What does Café Boconó taste like?
Fruity and chocolatey. The official specification describes an intense aftertaste with fruit such as peach, lemon, grapefruit and plum, along with nuts, spices and dark chocolate. Its acidity is balanced, it is sweet, and it has significant body and high balance and uniformity, which SAPI attributes to the area’s soils, climate, water, altitude and shade. A Boconó lot imported to Argentina in 2024, scored at 81 points, was described with peach, plum, chocolate, nuts, honey and spice and a bright, juicy acidity, La Nación reported.
Contest results back up the reputation:
| Year | Grower | Place | Coffee | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Víctor Montilla, El Carmen, Boconó | 1st | Natural-honey | |
| 2023 | Francisco Rosales, Hacienda La Alejandría, Boconó | 3rd | Tabi, washed | |
| 2023 | Alejandro Torres, Trujillo municipality | 4th | 88.43 | |
| 2024 | Alejandro José Torres, Los Llanitos, Trujillo municipality | 1st | Typica | 90 |
| 2024 | Endry Sarmiento, El Carmen, Boconó | 2nd | 88.4 | |
| 2025 | Roney Durán, The Roros Coffee, Boconó | 3rd | Tabi | 90.38 |
| 2025 | Andrés García, Boconó | 6th | 89.05 |
Sources: Últimas Noticias (2023), Diario VEA (2024), Diario de Los Andes (2025). The contest is the Encuentro Internacional de Cafés de Especialidad Venezolano.
The geographical indication
SAPI, Venezuela’s intellectual property office, granted Café de Boconó in its Boletín de la Propiedad Industrial of 25 November 2022, at the request of two growers’ associations, Asover (Oro Verde) and Cafemsa (Café de la Montaña); press reports date it to February 2023, when the award was announced. It covers ten parishes of Boconó municipality: Boconó, El Carmen, Mosquey, Burbusay, Guaramacal, Monseñor Jáuregui, Rafael Rangel, San Miguel, Ayacucho and San José de Tostós. The specification sets a reference altitude of 1,225 metres and says coffee is grown from 1,000 to 2,500 metres. The growers supplied soil studies from several farms and official and sensory tests, and SAPI notes more than 200 years of coffee growing in the area.
How much coffee does Trujillo grow?
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 18,529 ha | Diario de Los Andes, 2024 |
| Area | 12,000 ha | State governor, 2020 |
| Production, a year | 410,000 quintales (third in Venezuela) | Diario de Los Andes, 2024 |
| Production, 2026 | 8,500 t (about 185,000 quintales, by our calculation) | Government |
| Roasters | About 100 | State governor, 2020 |
The figures do not agree: the government’s 2026 tonnage is less than half the 410,000 quintales reported in 2024. In 2022 the government ranked Trujillo third, after Lara and Portuguesa.
How it is grown
Farms are small and family-run. One four-generation Boconó family grows about 45 quintales on some four hectares of Catimor, Castillo, Monte Claro, Bourbon, Caturra and Villanueva, processed as natural and honey; another grows Tabi, Castillo and Bourbon on seven and a half hectares, Últimas Noticias reported. Shade comes from guamo trees and bananas, and picking is selective, by hand, La Nación reported. In 2020 the state governor said the harvest was beginning in August in some areas, earlier than the national season, and that the coffee had recovered from disease that had almost destroyed the plantations by 2012. Historias Que Laten describes coffee communities in the mountains of Boconó at more than 2,000 metres, where growers still pay muleteers to carry their sacks down to the road.
Trujillo and other Venezuelan origins
- Coffee in Venezuela: the whole country, its disputed figures and its history.
- Mérida: the neighbouring Andean state, home of the 2025 champion.
- Lara: Venezuela’s biggest coffee state, protected as Café de Lara.
Questions & answers
What does Café Boconó taste like?
By its official specification: an intense aftertaste with fruit such as peach, lemon, grapefruit and plums, plus nuts, spices and dark chocolate, a balanced acidity, sweetness and significant body, with high balance and uniformity.
When did Café Boconó become a geographical indication?
SAPI, Venezuela's intellectual property office, granted it in its Boletín de la Propiedad Industrial of 25 November 2022, at the request of the growers' associations Asover and Cafemsa. Press reports date the award to February 2023, when it was announced and handed over.
How much coffee does Trujillo grow?
About 410,000 quintales a year on 18,529 hectares, Diario de Los Andes reported in 2024, making it Venezuela's third-largest producer. The government put its 2026 crop at 8,500 tonnes, fourth among the states it listed.
Has Trujillo coffee won prizes?
Yes. Trujillo growers won the gold cup of the national speciality contest in 2023, with Víctor Montilla of Boconó, and in 2024, with Alejandro José Torres's Typica at 90 points, and a Boconó Tabi took bronze in 2025 with 90.38.
Sources
- Indicaciones Geográficas Protegidas (IGP). Servicio Autónomo de la Propiedad Intelectual (SAPI)
- Otorgan primera Indicación Geográfica de café. Servicio Autónomo de la Propiedad Intelectual (SAPI)
- Trujillo ocupa el 3er lugar como productor de café en Venezuela. Diario de Los Andes
- Trujillo huele y sabe a café con calidad de exportación. Últimas Noticias
- En Trujillo se cultivan 12 mil hectáreas de café. Ciudad Trujillo
- Producción de café en Venezuela crece y apunta a la exportación global. Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Comunicación e Información
- Maduro premió a ganadores del Encuentro Internacional del Café de especialidad Venezolano 2024. Diario VEA
- Trujillo obtiene el tercer lugar en el IV Encuentro Internacional de Café de Especialidad Venezolano. Diario de Los Andes
- Secretos del café venezolano: cómo se prepara un guayoyo, con qué se acompaña y donde se consigue. La Nación
- Huele a buen café por todo Boconó. Historias Que Laten