Celso with his mill	Celso and his family	Celso at the award ceremony

Certified Organic. This lot is a 2009/2010 crop and was vacuum-packed at origin.

This distincitive peaberry (aka "caracol") coffee comes from Zona Illimani, Colonia Copacabana, Caranavi Province. It was lovingly tendered and carefully processed by Celso Mayta. Celso belongs to the very-small cooperative, APROCAFE (only seven members) and works with his family to process and sell their coffee. Celso's coffee includes the Typica, Caturra and Catuai varieties.

Celso is 38 years old, but he is already an expert grower and an inspiration for other coffee growers. In 2004, things were not 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 leaves 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 compettion. His coffee submission came in second place and Celso sold the lot on the international auction for $17,000 (six times of what he would have received in the domestic market). With the money he tripled the size of his coffee plantation.

During the 2009 Bolivia Cup of Excellence competition, Celso's Cafe Golondrina submission obtained 19th place with an international-jury score of 85.24, a let down from his sixth place in 2008. But he is proud that the made it to the International Auction.

We are very proud of Celso and pleased to offer his coffee for sale to our customers for the fourth year in a row. We visit him and his farm regularly and we have helped him import a commercial coffee roaster. He now also sells roasted coffee and ice-coffee locally to beat the Caranavi heat. The poster on his coffee shop reads: "Coffee must be hot like the Summer, dark like the night, sweet as a kiss, and pure as love" Yum.

This year's offering received a cupping score of 86.5 points by our Head Cupper, as follows.