Why the Arabica Coffee Origin Country Hosts Cup of Excellence Again
The Cup of Excellence competition returns to Ethiopia in 2024 after a one-year pause. Ethiopia, the arabica coffee origin country, last hosted the event in 2022, when its auction set a record of 400.5 US dollars per pound. Organizers restarted the program after the Ethiopian government reported the security situation had stabilized, and more than 600 samples have already reached regional warehouses.
The 2023 edition was suspended after ACE and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority cited the Tigray conflict and the end of funding from the Feed the Future Value Chain Activities program. This year adds natural sun-dried and washed winning categories, with European Commission-selected international jurors. Past auctions show how the event can lift the highest coffee price paid for Ethiopian beans.
It is known that COE is fully named "Cup of Excellen", which is translated as the Cup of Excellence. It is a coffee event first held in Brazil in 1999 by the non-profit organization the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), and it is also the first Internet auction platform for globally award-winning coffee.
Each country can bid to hold COE competitions, and the participating beans are all coffee beans produced from various places in the hosting country. They compete by the score of cup testing (blind testing), and after the competition, the winning coffee beans will be auctioned, which will enable the winning estates to have sufficient reputation and considerable auction proceeds.
The proceeds from the auction will make the coffee farmers more motivated to cultivate high-quality coffee beans, and global consumers can also obtain high-quality coffee beans from all over the world through the platform.
As early as 2020, Ethiopia held the first COE competition and auction, and among them, 28 award-winning auction products generated a transaction amount of 134 US dollars. And then at the 2022 Ethiopia COE auction, it set the highest price in the history of Ethiopian coffee, reaching 400.5 US dollars per pound.
In addition, the Ethiopia COE was initially initiated by the ACE company and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority in cooperation, and received financial support from the "Feed the Future Value Chain Activities" (FTFVCA) signed by the US government and the Ethiopian government.
However, according to ACE, later the program ended the partnership and the funds were no longer available. In addition, due to the left-wing political party composed of people in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia being dissatisfied with the new elected government, a conflict broke out, ultimately leading to a civil war.
After discussions between ACE and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, it was believed that there were many problems in Ethiopia, so the 2023 Ethiopia COE was suspended. This year, according to the Ethiopian government, the situation has been stabilized, so it was decided to restart the COE.
It is said that more than 600 samples have reached the regional warehouse this year. In addition, this time there will be two winning categories of the natural sun-dried group and the washed group, and the European Commission is currently selecting international jurors, and stating that Ethiopia is the origin of Arabica and there are many native species in the local area, so they are looking forward to this COE.
It can be said that this time is expected to break the high auction price history in early 2022. For consumers, they will look forward to whether there are new high-quality coffee beans in Ethiopian coffee this year.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
