Serapio Perez Marca's farm covers 10 hectares (about 25 acres) in the Chijchipani community of the province of Caranavi in this landlocked, South American origin. Seven hectares of Serapio's farm are planted with Typica and Caturra coffee, shaded by Inga trees and Spanish cedars. Serapio farms the traditional way, using organic farming methods, and no chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
Ripe coffee cherries are harvested by hand from June to September, and Serapio's coffee is depulped each day, immediately after harvest on-site. Depulped coffee is fermented for 15 hours and washed with clean water from mountain springs. The coffee is then sun-dried on drying tables.
Special Reserve coffees are among the rarest in the world. They may be recent winners of the prestigious Cup of Excellence® competitions, or our prize for being the highest bidder on an unparalleled coffee found at auction. We may encounter them on our journeys to familiar origins, or they may hail from regions just emerging on the coffee scene.
In each case, Special Reserve coffees epitomize our unique approach to sourcing and our worldwide search for coffees with unsurpassed aromas and exceptional flavor profiles.
Quantities are strictly limited, and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Lindsey Bolger, our Director of Coffee Sourcing & Relationships, picks each of our Special Reserve coffees. Gourmet Retailer magazine named Lindsey "one 
of the 25 Individuals Who Shaped the Specialty Coffee Industry." During a cupping (a taste testing), Lindsey can detect if one bean out of 60 is flawed. In fact, she's professionally classified as a Super Taster for her "exceptional sensory equity."
Lindsey's expertise and abilities put her in great demand on the coffee judging circuit. As a member of the "Cup of Excellence" international jury, she has judged coffee competitions in Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.