Do coffee bean competitions matter? At first glance it may be difficult to see the lasting positive impact that some coffee competitions have on producers.

The Cup of Excellence (COE) is perhaps the best known of the coffee-producer competitions. It is also one of the oldest with the first COE taking pace in 1999. In 2025 the Cup of Excellence will take place in 10 different coffee-growing countries and over the years has taken place in over 15 different countries. Countries drop out and join for a variety of reasons. Bolivia, for example, withdrew from the competition years ago for political reasons. For countries that do participate, the competition will give many farmers direct access to buyers for the first time. According to the COE website, “The structure of the competition requires transparency and fairness so that any farmer can directly reap its benefits instead of middlemen which is normally the case. Helping small holder and less advantaged farmers has proven to be the main hallmark of success.”

The competition is followed by an on-line auction with bidders from around the world participating. The first time I took part in a Cup of Excellence Auction was back in 2006 or 2007 and I was part of a buying group that included Ritual Coffee form San Francisco. I believe we won a lot that was around $8/lb which seemed like an astronomical amount at the time but the more I learned about the work COE was doing and how a grower could benefit from the competition, I became a believer and a consistent supporter of the Alliance. Over the years, we participated in several COE auctions, usually as part of a buying group, and secured some very special coffee. We even sent an employee to Mexico one year to serve on the International COE Jury for that country’s competition.

But what makes a competition like Cup of Excellence special? Well for one, the cupping evaluations that happen over several weeks in each country are unmatched.

During a normal green coffee transaction between a coffee cooperative or individual producer and a buyer, one lot of coffee will be analyzed and cupped several times. During normal Direct Trade transaction, for example, once a roaster has zeroed in on a coffee they may cup that particular coffee once at origin with the producer; then they will cup a “pre-ship” sample when that coffee is being prepared for export at a mill. Finally, the roaster will cup an “arrival” sample when the coffee is available in that roaster’s home country before finally accepting the green coffee. Certainly as many quality roasters and green brokers/importers have demonstrated, this is usually enough evaluation in order to procure a high-quality coffee.

But the vetting a coffee goes through in order to make it through each round of the Cup of Excellence competition is far more intense. If one is to purchase a Cup of Excellence coffee via the auction, the buyer can rest-assured the coffee is of excellent quality and is void of any defects.

To make it to the Cup of Excellence auction, a single coffee lot from a single farm is cupped at least 120 times during the course of the competition. First a coffee needs to make it through the national pre-selection round when it is judged by a national team of coffee experts. To do this, a coffee must score 86 points or above out of 100 points possible. Of the literally hundreds of coffee submittals to a COE competition, only 150 coffees are chosen to advance to the pre-selection round. Then the national jury cups those coffees and the top 90 make it to round three. Round three further culls the herd and only 40 coffees from that round advance to the International Jury rounds.

Cup of Excellence Cupping- Photo Credit: Cup of Excellence

For the International phase, between 20-25 coffee professionals, Q-graders, and coffee experts from all over the world fly into the host country for three intense rounds of coffee analysis. During the first two rounds of International judging, the top 30 coffees are picked to advance and named the country’s National Winners.

The International Jury then cups the top 10 coffees in each category (if applicable: Washed, Exotic, Exotic Naturals). At the awards ceremony which takes place at the end of the International Judging week, producers find out where they placed and how their coffee scored. Within a few weeks of the awards ceremony, all 30 of the National Winners are auctioned off via an on-line auction. Bidders from just about every country in the world try to secure some of the special coffee from this competition which quickly drives up the selling price. The COE Auction can often represent a massive financial windfall for the top coffees that can sell at auction for well over $75/lb (current pricing for top specialty lots are between $6-9/lb.) and all of the winners can expect a sale price over current average green coffee price.

Even though only a tiny percentage of a producer’s total coffee output is submitted to the competition, the status that comes with being a Cup of Excellence National Winner can dramatically increase the profile of a producer, allowing them to reach more buyers for other coffee they have prepared that season and in the future. Repeat winners are associated with great coffee and a gain a reputation for having a high-level of quality-control season after season.

Our new offering from Guatemala is a COE 2025 National Winner from Finca La Bolsa in Huehuetenango, a farm and family I have worked for a number of years. I thought it would be fitting to close out this blog entry with some some comments from Renardo Ovalle, the grandson of the La Bolsa’s founder, Jorge Vides — www.vides58; Renardo is in charge of Trading and Customer Relations.

I asked Renardo a few questions about their experience competing in Cup of Excellence Guatemala:

How many Cup of Excellence competitions have you entered?

Renardo: Six times and we have been National Winners five times.

Why do you enter the Cup of Excellence? How does it benefit Vides 58/ La Bolsa? Given you have participated in many COEs, why do you continue to participate? Do you like competing? Does it help your image as quality focused?

Renardo: At first it was important to open new markets, now it's more because we like to compete and it's exciting.

What would you improve going into the competition?

Renardo: We are always trying new things, like processes or varieties and you never know if it will work, but we try to improve every year everything related to fermentation, preparation and drying.

The Anaerobic Natural controlled fermentation process at La Bolsa.

NOTE: The Pacamara Lot we are offering now form La Bolsa is the result of years of experimentation at the farm level. This Anaerobic Natural coffee did not turn out fantastic by accident. The quality of this coffee is the result of a systematic approach and constant experimentation over several years. There was a lot that could go wrong with a coffee processed in this manner; to pull it off so well is a testament to La Bolsa’s commitment to excellence.

In general, do you feel that all producers who enter the COE benefit from the competition or just the top three?

Renardo: I think those who benefit the most are the first places (given that many 1st place winners make so much money per pound), for the others it's more of an experience and if they're lucky they get new clients.

Do you feel the Cup of Excellence helps the mission of the Guatemalan coffee industry?

Renardo: Definitely yes, it helps to position Guatemala's consistency in relation to quality.

You mentioned you might some day like to host your own auction coffee / have a competition with coffee for neighboring farms in Huehuetenango. Do you still plan on doing that? If so why? How would this help those farms?

Renardo: Yes, we would like to do it, but it's a time-consuming and detailed process that we don't have in the harvest. It would help producers understand what they're producing and help us position the Huehuetenango region, as it's already recognized and is a region that's gaining more demand worldwide every year.

Our Pacamara from Finca La Bolsa is La Bolsa’s latest Cup of Excellence National Winner . You can order some of this remarkable coffee here!

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