Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491371
16 STiR tea & coffee industry international T he 100th Cup of Excellence (COE) revealed a Brazil of small farms, hand-picked cherries, and superior washed coffees with cupping scores of 90+ from known growing regions. The big surprise was a sweep of the top five awards by growers in Bahia, which is not a traditional coffee producing region. Auction prices topped $50 per pound. Grower Cândido Vladimir Ladeia Rosa, from Chácara Ouro Verde, located in Piatã city (Bahia) in Chapada Diamantina received the top score of 94.05 points. This is the second time since 2009 that Rosa has taken top honors. Cuppings took place at Viçosa, Minas Gerais, at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Federal University of Viçosa). Geoff Watts, v.p. of coffee and green coffee buyer at Intelligentsia in Chicago, Ill. said, "I've been surprised by the quality that we found. I've been in several different Brazil competitions [...], but it has been almost 10 years since I've been here for COE and the difference between the quality that was available then and the quality we found now is dramatic. I would say on average the coffee has gone up in quality by 30%." Brazilian judge Elias Batista Generoso said the most exotic coffee that he found had phosphoric acid "which is not very usual for Brazil." Brazil is the origin of the Cup of Excellence which was first conceived 15 years ago as a means of introducing specialty grade coffee to the world. The intent was to showcase exceptional coffee for international buyers who didn't believe that a commodity country such as Brazil could consistently produce fine coffees. Susie Spindler, one of the founders and executive director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), recalled that buyers in "Europe and the US mainly, would not believe that Brazil could produce anything other than commercial coffee… even if those coffees were on a cupping table and selected hands down favorites in a blind cupping. "The US and most Europeans buyers wouldn't pay a premium primarily because they thought these fine coffees were one-time shot, that wasn't repeatable," she explains. COE's first competition in 1999 in Brazil was funded by the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) and the International Coffee Organization (ICO). The idea of promoting specialty coffee through blind cuppings dates to 1997, according to Vanusia Nogueira, BSCA's executive director. Five Back to the Beginning: COE Celebrates its 100th countries, including Brazil, were chosen for The Gourmet Project, a partnership of ICO and the United Nations designed to stimulate coffee development. "Some coffee farms were chosen to receive technical support. Susie Spindler and George Howell were both invited to Brazil to start their work," said Nogueira. The Gourmet Project ran from 1996 until 1999 and was a huge success. "The project was designed to not only increase coffee quality, but to get more money to the farmers," explains Spindler. Small producers improved their crops and buyers paid higher prices. However project funding was limited. To prevent the cuppings from vanishing BSCA financed the effort, calling the award The Best of Brazil until 2000 when other countries showed interest in having this project in their lands too, says Vanusia. Guatemala was the first to take part in cuppings, then Nicaragua (2002), El Salvador (2003), Honduras (2004), Colombia (2005), Costa Rica (2007), Rwanda (2008), Mexico (2012), Burundi (2012), and Bolivia (2004-2009). The program was named the Cup of Excellence. It was founded by Spindler, George Howell, and Silvio Leite. ACE, a nonprofit, began managing COE competitions around the world. COE pioneered a new appreciation of specialty coffee worldwide and made it conve- nient for buyers to purchase these coffees via the internet. Modeling their efforts on the success of eBay, COE's team developed its own auction platform to get top prices for the precious coffees discovered during competitions. The head judge, Silvio Leite, one of the coffee professionals who helped to make COE a reality Grower Cândido Vladimir Ladeia Rosa, along with top four award winners helped put Bahia state on the specialty coffee map Photos by Joel Shuler courtesy BSCA Photos by Joel Shuler courtesy BSCA NEWS By Kelly Stein