Launched in January 2020, the Cup of Excellence competition in Ethiopia was organized by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence and Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, with support from USAID through our Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity, and wide-ranging collaboration across the Ethiopian coffee industry. The competition aims to create a more viable specialty coffee market in Ethiopia, linking local producers to global buyers and garnering premium prices for Ethiopia-grown coffees.
The inaugural Cup of Excellence coffee quality competition and auction program in Ethiopia is off to an auspicious start, with 1,459 coffee samples submitted, breaking the long-running competition’s previous record by more than 400. Collected through centers in Jimma, Hawassa, Diredawa and Addis Ababa, the list of 1,459 sample coffees will soon be whittled down by a national jury to 150 lots, which will then be further evaluated by the national jury until an international jury scores the top 40 lots.
With a more than 20-year history and annual competitions throughout Latin America and Africa, this is the first time the Cup of Excellence is being conducted in Ethiopia, arabica coffee’s genetic birthplace and a coffee country prized by buyers for its remarkable coffee diversity and quality. Feb. 6, marked the official opening of the Cup of Excellence Ethiopia competition center, including a warehouse and cupping lab, in Ethiopian capital city Addis Ababa, while the program there has involved an ongoing partnership between CoE organizer the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, and the USAID Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity.
Cup of Excellence is the most prestigious competition and auction for high quality coffees. The level of scrutiny that Cup of Excellence coffees undergo is unmatched anywhere in the specialty coffee industry. Each year, thousands of coffees are submitted for consideration, with winning coffees sold in global online auctions at premium prices, with the vast majority of auction proceeds going to the farmers. The Cup of Excellence competition has pioneered integrity and transparency in the coffee industry, ensuring the value of winning coffees. Each sample entering the competition process is assigned a number known only to the auditor for each competition, and each jury member cups the coffee blind. In addition, each lot is documented through the entire process so that winning coffees are traceable to the farm and exact micro-lot. Since 1999, the Cup of Excellence (COE) program has set the standard for the increased premiums that farmers have been able to receive for their exemplary coffees. It continues to build a much more transparent infrastructure and gives farmers the tools needed to improve the economic model of their farms. COE raises funds for coffees farmers in coffee growing countries incentivizing and motivating farmers who know there can be a recognition and financial reward for their hard work and effort.
Did you know that some coffee buyers from around the world will pay $150 or more for a half-kilogram of coffee? The Cup of Excellence coffee competition came to Ethiopia for the first time and drew entries from more than 1,400 Ethiopian coffee farmers and producers all vying for the opportunity to sell their beans to top-shelf clients and connoisseurs from around the world.
The Alliance for Coffee Excellence and Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority recently announced the top 28 winning coffees from the competition – all of which will be sold in an online auction on June 25 where more than 130 international buyers and coffee lovers will place their bids on Ethiopian specialty coffees, which are expected to garner premium prices.
Photo: Bogale Woldehana, Managing Director of Rumudamo Coffee P.L.C., claimed second and third place with Rumudamo’s Sidama-based coffees, both receiving the Presidential Award along with first-place winner Nigussie Gemeda Mude