Sourcing coffees for our Select Series is always a pleasure, as we get to taste some exquisite and rare lots from across the coffee producing world.
For this release, we’re thankful to Jose Rivera, affectionately known as “Pepe”. Jose is a coffee producer and exporter based in Jaén, in the northern Cajamarca region of Peru. He and his wife, Mariagracia, run Origin Coffee Lab (OCL), an exporter renowned for sourcing and exporting some of the highest-quality specialty coffees in the country.
OCL works directly with producers, cupping all deliveries and paying a premium directly related to the quality of their coffee to show how their crop can be differentiated. They also provide education on financial and agricultural best practices to help farmers move towards a more sustainable future.

OCL also carries out a number of initiatives to invest in the quality of future coffee harvests. In recent years, it has funded the construction of a warehouse for storage and green coffee sorting, as well as a new vacuum packing line for microlot and nanolot coffees.
This Select Series coffee is a washed processed Sidra variety from Jose’s farm, El Rejo, in San Jose del Alto, located at 1,750–1,800 meters above sea level. At El Rejo, Bourbon is the main variety, intercropped with banana trees, and Jose is also experimenting with Marshell, SL9, Ethiopian varieties and some rare varieties such as the Sidra. Sidra is a recently introduced coffee variety, with an unclear origin story. It might have been part of a coffee plant breeding program, developed in the nurseries of a Nestle facility in Ecuador. Sidra was thought to be a hybrid of Bourbon and Typica. More recent genetic research, however, suggests its lineage may also include Ethiopian landrace varieties.
The cultivar gained international recognition through pioneering farms in Ecuador, particularly in high-altitude regions where producers began experimenting with varieties capable of delivering exceptional cup quality. It represents a rare balance between exceptional flavour potential and strong agricultural performance. In the cup, Sidra is often associated with layered flavour profiles that may include tea like texture, floral aromatics, bright acidity and tropical fruit notes. The washed Sidra from El Rejo ticks all of these boxes, with a deliciously floral lavender top note complimented by a peach-like stone fruit acidity and honey-like sweetness.

In recent years, the Sidra variety has gained prominence and popularity in the specialty coffee industry, with many competitors using it to achieve success in the World Barista Championships as well as the World Brewers Cup. At Maker, we strive to make the Select Series a memorable drinking experience for our customers, and we believe this washed Sidra produced by Jose Rivera delivers on that promise. We’re thrilled and proud to be offering this delicious coffee in our limited edition Select Series. Packed in 100g tins, this special release can be purchased now on the Maker website.