86+ Find: Celso Mayta (Bolivia) Microlot Roast. NEW ARRIVAL!

Origin	Bolivia
Region	Caranavi
Farm / Coop	Cafe Golondrina (Swallow's Farm)
Altitude	5,270 - 5,890 ft.
Varietals	Catuai (80%), Icatu (10%), Typica (Criollo) (5%), Caturra (5%)
Processing	Fully washed
Certifications	Grown using organic practices, but not certified.
Cup Notes	Score: 86.5 points. FLAVOR/AROMA: Caramel fragrance with hints of red berries. Vainilla, Sugar Cane, Milk Chocolate, Marzipan, Honeycomb, Floral. Super clean. Sweet delicate spices on wet. ACIDITY: Complex citric (mandarin, lemon, orange). OTHER: Winey & Juicy. Honey, sweet. Transparent, multi-faced, creamy aftertaste. Excellent choice for iced coffee or cold brew.

Celso Mayta's farm is called Finca Golondrina (Swallow's Farm), after the swallows that fly in the sky above his coffee trees. It is located in Zona Illimani, Colonia Copacabana, Caranavi Province of Bolivia. Since 2015 Celso and Invalsa have created a 50/50 partnership, Cafe Golondrina SA, which now grows much more coffee. We are very proud to report that in 2019. Our partnership coffee (Geisha varietal) won first place in the best-of- Bolivia Presidential Coffee competition with a international Jury score of 92 points. The winning coffee was bought at auction by Saza Coffee of Japan for the highest-ever Bolivian auction price of $33/lb.

Celso was born in 1972 but he is already an expert coffee producer, and an inspiration for other coffee growers. In 2004, things were not going so well. Celso was ready to burn his coffee trees, which he had worked with his family since he was three years old, and was all set to grow coca leaves. Growing coca is legal in Bolivia and is a centuries-old Andean tradition. "Until then coffee was only good to survive, coca was better," he says. "Bolivian coffee was exported with a 20% discount because quality was poor and unpredictable. I didn't know what quality meant, so out of curiosity I decided to attend some classes about improving coffee growing practices." What he learned paid off. In 2005 he decided to participate in the second Bolivia Cup of Excellence competition. His coffee submission came in second place and Celso sold the lot on the international auction for $17,000 (six times what he would have received in the domestic market). With the money, he tripled the size of his coffee plantation.

Invalsa has been buying Celso's coffee since 2010, and since 2015 we have been working with him to develop an improved-varietal coffee seeding nursery and mechanized washing station at Finca Golondrina and Finca Fortin.

Celso's wife, Carmen and his son Wilmer work in the family farm. His daughter, little Susie (on the pictures below) is just beginning to help out.

Explore the region of Caranavi in Bolivia yourself, here:

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