Yesterday morning, I arrived at the office around 6:45am at fired up my computer. I was greeted by an email from Ernesto Lima…Ernesto owns the Las Nubes Farm in El Salvador. He was writing to let me know that Las Nubes was selected as one of the winners of the 2010 El Salvador Cup of Excellence. 

The Cup of Excellence (COE) is one of the most esteemed awards given out for top quality coffees in the Specialty Coffee industry. The award comes from a strict competition that selects the highest quality coffee produced in a given country for that particular year. The first COE competition was held in Brazil in 1999 and there are currently 9 countries hosting programs: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Rwanda, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil and Costa Rica. 

In April of this year, growers from all over El Salvador submitted coffee samples to be pre-screened for the 2010 El Salvador Cup of Excellence. National cuppers (coffee tasting experts) complete visual and tastes analysis of the samples, and 129 farms were selected to move on to the national competition. 

In the national competition, two COE cuppers, called the National Jury, from El Salvador sample coffees in two rounds of cuppings lasting about five days. Coffees are scored using an industry standard quality scale, and only coffees that score an 84 (on a scale of 100) or higher can move forward in the competition. The National Jury narrowed down the 129 coffees to the top 60, all scoring a minimum of 84. 

At this point, the top 60 coffees are sent to an International Jury, made up of 22 cuppers from around the world. The International Jury spends 5 days cupping the remaining coffees and evaluating them using the same scale as the National Jury. At the end of their evaluation, all of the samples are cupped a minimum 5 times. The top coffees scoring an average of 84 or higher are awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence. 

In the 2010 El Salvador Cup of Excellence Competition, 30 farms of the original 129 were awarded this distinguished honor. Ernesto’s farm, Las Nubes, was ranked 27 with a quality score of 84.39. 

This achievement for the Lima Family is the result of their hard work and focus on producing a high quality product. We are very proud to be partnered with them in support of producing a high quality coffee that is GROWN Responsibly. We’re looking forward to the arrival of our own supply of coffee from Las Nubes in June so that we can share this amazing coffee with our customers. 

For more information on the Lima Family and their coffee farms, you can visit the Farmer section of our website. 

For more information on the Cup of Excellence Competition, you can visit the COE website. 

Sip Slowly.