Nick Brown | June 9, 2020
After a one-year hiatus, the Cup of Excellence (CoE) coffee quality competition resumed in Nicaragua, with submissions from 249 coffee-producing participants resulting in a wealth of high-quality winners heading to public auction next month.
For Portland, Oregon-based Cup of Excellence organizer the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), the Nicaragua event was the second CoE in the COVID-19 era, following Ethiopia, requiring some logistical wizardry, including the ability for international judges to cup coffees from afar and a virtual awards ceremony.
Amidst such challenges, the coffees themselves shined through the competition, including 17 CoE winners (scoring 87+ points according to the international jury) and 12 National Winners (scoring 85-86.99 points). Winning coffees hailed from five different growing regions within Nicaragua.
For the competition, ACE collaborated with the government-led in-country organizing partner The National Commission for the Transformation and Development of the Coffee Sector, known as CONATRADEC.
“It’s a historic day for Nicaragua, Cup of Excellence and the country of Nicaragua. This has been part of a plan for development for the coffee industry of Nicaragua,” Nicaragua Minister of Agriculture Eduardo Centeno said in an announcement released by ACE. “The quality of our coffee is showing results. This pushes us to keep working harder. Together with ACE we know we can keep working with farmers to give them access to buyers around the world.”
