Dec 21

Written by:
21/12/2011 5:08 PM 

Following on from our last entry, here is some of the history of the prestigious Cup of Excellence Award. We have two Cup of Excellence coffees from El Salvador available now through the Limited Editions section of our site. Act fast, as we have very limited stock of each!

Who Started the Cup of Excellence competition?

Cup of Excellence was started by a group of dedicated coffee connoisseurs who along with international governmental support and NGO’s, thought that a competition and auction was an effective way to recognize farmers monetarily for their hard work and effort. It is now known that in addition to this, the discovery of unknown and phenomenal coffee creates an excitement amongst roasters and consumers that is unparalleled. As multiple coffee producing countries have joined the program they are sharing beneficial information with each other and the supporting roasters have created a “Cup of Excellence” family.

Why is Cup of Excellence important?

The Cup of Excellence fundamentally changes what we know is possible in a good coffee. For years great coffees have been blended away creating a commodity that tends to taste uniform with very little recognition of the individual farmers or the unique flavour profiles that can be present in different varieties and from different micro climates.

For the roasters and importers who support Cup of Excellence, this program has often introduced their businesses a new demographic of customers who appreciate top quality beans and are willing to pay a premium for it.

For consumers, the Cup of Excellence award label is a guarantee of top grade coffee that has been judged by professional cuppers to be the best. Often these award winning coffees are so good that consumers expectations of what a coffee can taste like are exceeded. The payment to the coffee farmers for their beans are more than fair, in fact there is no other program that is as exciting for the coffee lover, the roasters and particularly the farmers, whose monetary reward often changes the lives of their entire families and the rural community where they live.

The Cup of Excellence program builds the bridge between the high quality farmer, the high quality trader and the consumer who finds coffee they truly adore whilst knowing at the same time that the farmer has been well compensated.

The Cup of Excellence builds international relationships in many forms. It creates a situation where cooperation is the key to success, where appreciation is the rule and where friendships and lasting partnerships are built. It is one of the few programs that puts individual empowerment, training and education without discrimination of gender or economic status it’s main focus.