Discover the Cup of Excellence – a prestigious coffee competition that recognizes the highest-quality coffees in the world. Why are we mentioning it? Because one of them has just joined our coffee offerings.

The exceptional Buena Esperanza . Straight from Nicaragua, home to some of the world's finest coffees. Its history dates back to 1790, when the first coffee tree was planted. It boasts a unique bean, bursting with flavors of dried dates, fruity notes of ripe orange, and honey. The aftertaste is reminiscent of an aromatic Earl Grey tea in the morning.

This is the first coffee in the history of our roastery to win the prestigious Cup of Excellence competition for coffee producers. As part of the competition, the best coffees and cups are selected from thousands of coffees and cups.

Cup of Excellence - a prestigious coffee competition

There's a growing buzz about the Polish Barista and Roaster Championships, the Brewers Cup, and other coffee competitions. These are undoubtedly events that promote high-quality coffee and demonstrate that coffee is a never-ending, new sensory experience. Barista competitions are dedicated to those at the end of the "coffee chain." The question arises – what about those at the beginning, the Roasters?

The Cup of Excellence (CoE) competition is reserved for them.

The CoE's history began in 1999. It was then that the competition began to create a market for high-quality coffee. It benefited small producers who focused on providing the highest quality beans and divided their harvests into micro-lots (small batches of specially selected beans based on variety, farm location, and sensory profile).

This competition is independently organized in 12 countries:

• Brazil,
• Burundi,
• Costa Rica,
• Ecuador,
• El Salvador,
• Ethiopia,
• Guatemala,
• Honduras,
• Mexico,
• Nicaragua,
• Rwanda.

Participation in the competition is free and open to everyone. However, each participant may only present one of their flights (a selected portion of the collection). Throughout the competition, national and international judges use specially prepared evaluation sheets. Unlike the familiar evaluation sheets (here at the roastery) prepared by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), this one evaluates only specialty coffees, and the primary goal is to evaluate, describe, and select the best coffee from a given country.

The difference in the two spreadsheets is easy to spot. What stands out is the rating scale for each attribute. In SCA, the rating scale for each attribute starts at 6 and ends at 10 (with three exceptions), while in CoE, the rating scale ranges from 0 to 8.

SCA Coffee Assessment Sheet

CoE does not take aroma into account when evaluating coffee; its use is purely descriptive and does not affect the final rating. It's also worth noting that the number of attributes assessed differs – CoE has 8 characteristics, while SCA has 10.

CoE Coffee Assessment Sheet

The two sheets also approach defect assessment differently. SCA divides defects into two categories – taint (a "minor defect" that is noticeable but does not obscure the coffee's character) and fault (a major defect that distorts the flavor of a given sample). The Cup of Excellence allows for the assessment of the defect's intensity, and based on this, a formula calculates negative points. Interestingly, if a coffee exhibits a defect in even one of the cups at the international stage, it is immediately disqualified.

Stages of the Cup of Excellence competition

The entire competition is divided into 6 stages:

1. Pre-Selection – A national panel of judges tests each sample only once, with coffees with a score of 86 or higher advancing to the next round. A maximum of 150 samples are included in the pre-selection.
2. Round Two – This round involves a maximum of 90 coffees, which are assessed again by the national judges and the coffees must again score at least 86 points.
3. Round Three – Coffees that advance from the previous round (maximum 40) are tested once again and must also score 86 points to advance to the next stage.
4. Round Four – After a week, an international jury meets to evaluate the coffees from the third round, and coffees that score at least 87 points advance to the next round.
5. Round five – coffees that advance to the fifth stage are awarded prizes and are auctioned off. They are re-evaluated and described for the auction.
6. Round Six – The 10 best coffees advance to the final round and are carefully evaluated to determine the final score and determine the winners.

After the demanding stages of the competition, it's time to honor the winners. Interestingly, the coffees from the last two rounds are auctioned off. Due to high demand and the limited quantity of coffees, winners often pay exorbitant sums, which go to the farmer as an additional prize.

The uniqueness of Cup of Excellence coffee

Undoubtedly, the Cup of Excellence is the most demanding coffee competition, for which participants prepare throughout the entire season. It requires a great deal of work, attention, sacrifice, investment, and, above all, luck. Unfortunately, we have no control over weather conditions, which affect the quality of the beans. 

Fortunately, the results of this hard work bring benefits, not only to the winners, but also to us, the people who have the luck and pleasure of brewing and enjoying such selected coffees.

Author: Alek Smęt, Head Coffee Roaster