Guatemala 2010 Cup of Excellence – Winning Farms

Another surprise winner in the 2010 Guatemala Cup of Excellence–El Injertal!  Ok, it’s not a surprise.  That makes it three straight for the Pacamara from El Injertal, and four of the last five for the farm overall.  In addition, it was the only lot to be given the CoE Presidental award for scoring over 90 points.

We’re happy to report that two of the international jury members have graced us with their collaboration on CoE or other direct coffee buying, Mary Tellie from Electric City Roasting Company, and Colleen Anunu from Gimme! Coffee.

	Farm name	Location	Score
1	El Injerto I	La Libertad, Huehuetenango	90.09
2	Las Macadamias	La Libertad, Huehuetenango	89.8
2	Rosma	San Pedro Necta, Huehuetenango	89.8
4	Santa Ana	Pueblo Nuevo Viñas, Santa Rosa	89.73
5	La Folie	Jocotenango, Sacatepéquez	88.95
6	Idolia	Pueblo Nuevo Viñas, Santa Rosa	88.64
7	El Tambor	Palencia, Guatemala	88
8	Chalabal	Acatenango, Chimaltenango	87.98
9	San Julián	Palencia, Guatemala	87.93
10	Los Cuixnales y Anexos	Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez	87.91
11	La Pia	Palencia, Guatemala	86.38
12	Capetillo y Anexos	Alotenango, Sacatepéquez	86.33
13	La Merced	San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango	86.24
14	San Guayaba	Palencia, Guatemala	86.17
15	Manila y Anexos	Nuevo Progreso, San Marcos	86.12
16	La Bendición	Yepocapa, Chimaltenango	86.05
17	La Felicidad	Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez	85.93
18	Santa Clara y Anexos	Pastores, Sacatepéquez	85.86
19	ASUVIM	Santa Clara La Laguna, Sololá	85.74
20	Las Nubes y Anexos	San Miguel Dueñas, Sacatepéquez	85.67
21	San José El Yalú	Sumpango, Sacatepéquez	85.55
22	Carmona	Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez	85.4
23	La Pampa	Acatenango, Chimaltenango	85.05
24	Granja El Tempixque	San Miguel Dueñas, Sacatepéquez	85
25	Santa Isabel y Anexos	Pueblo Nuevo Viñas, Santa Rosa	84.98
26	San Jorge	Palencia, Guatemala	84.86
27	La Soledad	Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez	84.52
28	Miraflores	Fraijanes, Guatemala	84.14

Honduras 2010 Cup of Excellence – Winning Farms

Last week marked another completed Cup of Excellence competition.  The jury awarded the Cup of Excellence to twenty-five lots, including two lots achieving a CoE Presidential award for scoring higher than 90 points on the final day.  The quality coming from the Santa Bárbara region was outstanding with 9 of the top 10 winners coming from that region.

Royal Coffee NY will be coordinating a cupping and buying group for the Honduras auction this year–hope to see some friends from last year’s cupping, and repeat our success with the 2009 Costa Rica Auction.

Lot #	Farm	Farmer	Region	Score
1	Don Amado	José Amado Fernández Fernández	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	91.45
2	Las Manos	Santos Alexis Domínguez Ramos	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	90.45
3	Pino De Oro	Oscar Edgardo Tinoco Madrid	Ojo De Aguita, Santa Bárbara	89.70
4	Fernández	Cesar Agusto Fernández Fern…	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	89.70
5	Olvin	Olvin Esmelin Fernández Paz	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	89.60
6	El Filo	Miguel Moreno Leiva	El Cedral, Santa Bárbara	89.30
7	Los Portillos	Adolfo Reyes Portillo	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	88.35
8	Las Amazonas	Ezri Moisés Herrera Urizar	La Piedrona, La Paz	88.20
9	El Aguacate	Luis Alfonzo Hernández Aguilar	El Sauce, Santa Bárbara	86.90
10	Finca Bu	Pompilio Ramos Archila	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	86.80
11	El Sauce	Esteban Madrid Chávez	San Luis Planes, Santa Bárbara	86.75
12	El Campo	Daniel Moreno	El Cedral, Santa Bárbara	86.55
13	Las Cascadas	Jorge Alberto Vallecillo Yánez	El Común, La Paz	86.40
14	El Gran Sauce	Claudio Lenin Madrid Villanuev…	El Sauce, Santa Bárbara	86.00
15	Linda Vista	Joel Guzmán Muñoz	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	85.60
16	Angelina Lote No. 15 El Pacon	COFEVASA	El Pacon, El Paraíso	85.35
17	La Burra	Jorge Alberto Lanza Ordoñez	Lomas Limpias, El Paraíso	85.25
18	Cielito Lindo	Extreberto Cáceres	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	85.10
19	La Sultana	Héctor Manuel Mata	La Sultana, Ocotepeque	85.05
20	Buena Vista	Pedro Pineda Hernández	La Cuesta, Santa Bárbara	84.80
21	Copo Mico	Mariano Alejandro Mejía Quirós	San Luis Planes, Santa Bá…	84.50
22	Angelina (Lote No. 16)	Mario Edgardo Segura Aroca	El Pacon, El Paraíso	84.50
23	La Granadilla	Omar Gómez Benítez	Cangual, Intibucá	84.40
24	Las Peñitas	Jorge Arturo Benítez Miranda	El Ocotillo, Santa Bárbara	84.20
25	Martínez	Mártir Fernández	El Cielito, Santa Bárbara	84.10

Bids for Coffee Kids – Weeks Two and Three Results

Our little home roasters’ auction to benefit Coffee Kids has just finished its third week.  We didn’t have a furious round of last-second bidding, but we did get a good excuse why one of our organizers didn’t bid at the last minute–he fell asleep.

Our second and third weeks matched the success of the first week–each week pulled in more than the retail value of the items donated.  We raised $1487 during the second week, and $1599 for the third.  That brings our three-week total to $4895!  It appears our bidders continue to demonstrate the generous spirit shown by all of our donors.

Week Four lots are now open, including a coffee table book filled with the espresso photos of one of Green Coffee Buying Club’s members, Shaun Taylor.  Shaun has always graced us with his espresso and life journeys, most of which are marked by his keen photographic eye.  Check out his photo blog for some examples of his journey.   There are another eighteen items up for bid, and this is also the last week to bid on our month-long items, including a Hottop coffee roaster, a Behmor coffee roaster, and training sessions from Trish Rothgeb and Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters.    Please visit our hosts at the Green Coffee Buying Club to check out the lots.  Bid early, Bid often!

El Salvador 2010 Cup of Excellence – Winning Farms

This week marked the 2nd week in a row an international jury descended on a Central American host for a Cup of Excellence competition.  The jury awarded the Cup of Excellence to thirty lots, including three lots achieving a CoE Presidential award for scoring higher than 90 points on the final day.  From the CoE press release on the event, the international jury was somewhat divided in its preferences for El Salvador’s choice bourbons and pacamaras.  Here’s hoping we are able to get our hands on some gems like we did with the Altamira Pacamara from last year.

Lot #	Farm	Farmer	Region	Score
1	Finca Suiza	Julia Margarita Martinez Molina	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	91.05
2	El Ausol	Maria Elena Avila Magaña De Muyshondt	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	90.48
3	La Montanita	Antonio Rene Aguilar Lemus	Alotepec-Metap N	90.45
4	San Isidro	Bessie Batres Smith De Giron	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	89.25
5	Los Andes	Juan Jose Ernesto Menendez Arguello	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	89.16
6	San Joaquin	F.A. Pacas Y Cia	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	88.86
7	Los Pirineos	Los Pirineos S.A. De C.V.	Tecapa-Chinameca	88.84
8	La Batalla #1	Guillermo Magaña Flores	Alotepec-Metap N	88.84
9	Las Mercedes	Giron Salazar Hijos Y Cia Francisco	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	88.70
10	Llano Grande	Proyectos De Venta Y Compra, S.A. De C.V…	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	88.18
11	La Pinera	Luis Alonso Araujo	Cacahuatique	86.50
12	El Porvenir	Adilia Encarnacion Aguilar De Pullinger	Tecapa-Chinameca	86.30
13	Agabo	Adda Mercedes Serarols Diaz	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	86.07
14	San Carlos	Carlos Alfredo Mendez Florez	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	86.05
15	Cerro Negro	Jose Armando Portillo Peraza	Alotepec-Metap N	85.95
16	La Gloria/Nueva Granada	Maria Jose Huezo Rodriguez	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	85.91
17	Santa Teresa I	Marco Antonio Batres, Teresa Eugenia Gia…	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	85.70
18	Casa De Zinc	Casa De Zinc, S.A. De C.V.	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	85.18
19	La Campanula	Lima Y Socios	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	85.07
20	Pinares 2	Hector Manuel Velasquez Guzman	Volcan de San Salvador	85.05
21	Los Amates – Tablon Los Chorros	Finca Los Amates, S.A. De C.V.	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	85.05
22	Divina Providencia	Roberto Samuel Ulloa Vilanova	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	85.05
23	Villagalicia	Pretoria, S.A. De C.V.	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.73
24	Opalo	Daniel Ernesto Aguilar Zarco	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.68
25	El Jocotillo	Anna Elaine Del Carmen Rivas De Vega	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.55
26	Santa Barbara	Cia. Agrop. De Exportacion Centroamerica…	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.45
27	Las Nubes I	Ernesto Lima Mena	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.39
28	El Milenio	Kristal S.A.	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.36
29	Miralvalle	Marta Dolores Menendez De Riera	Apaneca-Ilamatepec	84.23
30	Las Palmas	Los Pirineos S.A. De C.V.	Tecapa-Chinameca	84.11

La Batalla

Guillermo Magaña Flores

Nicaragua Cup of Excellence 2010 – Winning Farms

Last week marked the kickoff of the 2010 Cup of Excellence season, with the Nicaragua Cup of Excellence competition.  The International jury awarded the Cup of Excellence to twenty-seven lots, including eight lots achieving a CoE Presidential award for scoring higher than 90 points on the final day.  A fine showing for this event.

Full listing of the winning lots can be found here; I’ve also reproduced them below.

Lot #	Farm	Farmer	Score
1	El Esfuerzo	Norlan Daniel Matute Tercero	94.14
2	Monte Cristo	Jaime José Molina Fiallos	91.45
3	Un Regalo de Dios	Luis Alberto Balladares Moncada	91.31
4	Santa Guadalupe	Jaime Rosales Pasquier	91.10
5	Los Altos	Erwin Mierisch Buitrago	90.60
6	Los Congos	José René Paguaga Midense	90.52
7	Monte Libano	Carlos Emilio Maldonado Hernández	90.31
8	Las Flores	Gonzalo Adán Castillo Moreno	90.26
9	Santa Isabel	Hernán Rodríguez Valladares	89.76
10	Santa Elena	Santos Filomena Gradiz Amaya	88.88
11	La Providencia	Marlene Galo López	87.57
12	Los Jilgueros	Henry Enmanuel Padilla Casco	87.50
13	La Bendición	Misael Saucedo Olivera	87.19
14	La Pradera	David Ariel Lovo Gutérrez	87.19
15	El Poste	Erling Misael Montenegro López	87.14
16	El Recuerdo	José Efrain Espinales Bautista	87.00
17	Castañuela	Edgar Noel Gonzales Sauceda	86.98
18	El Progreso	José Noel Talavera Arauz	86.95
19	La Esperanza	Esperanza del Carmen Tercero Monca	86.83
20	Maria	Miguel Angel Marinez Morazan	86.81
21	Santa Gema	Mario José Vilchez Urbina	86.67
22	Los Jilgueros	Manuel Armando Peralta Paguaga	86.38
23	San Antonio	María Teresa Tercero Alfaro	86.31
24	La Buena Etancia	Absalón Antonio González Arauz	85.62
25	Linda Vista	Francisco González Avilez	85.45
26	La Carolina	Andres Figueroa López	85.05
27	Bella Aurora	Joaquín Agusto Lovo López	84.33

Our Generous Friends

As we rapidly approach the opening of this years Bids for Coffee Kids auction to benefit Coffee Kids, more and more generous friends are standing up to support our cause.

Last last night, I got a message from Nick Cho, offering to donate one or more 3-hour coffee brewing/espresso training sessions or coffee cupping/green coffee grading sessions to the auction.  After a few back and forth messages, Nick settle up on the following two donations on behalf of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, which have been added to our Month Long items:

Item M-7: 3-hour customized cupping and/or green coffee grading training with Trish Rothgeb

Item M-8: 3-hour customized training on espresso and brewing with Nick Cho

Thank you both for such a generous offer.  It’s wonderful to have you in DC!

3-hour customized cupping and/or green coffee grading training with Trish Rothgeb

Colombia Las Mingas

My journey down the rabbit hole of specialty coffee has generally followed the three questions voiced in the our vision.  Over the last year, we have attempted to connect this small operation with those working directly with farmers or cooperatives–seeking ever a direct connection and a means by which we could directly reward the farmers and producers at the front end of the coffee chain.  Many times, the efforts have proved difficult or impossible, as we rarely buy more than 5-10 bags of any particular lot.

One program that had us hooked from the start is the Las Mingas program from Virmax.  Las Mingas, loosely translated means “for the good of all”.  The program focuses on quality, and provides a transparent pricing process from farmer, exporter, importer and buyer.  Virmax works with selected farms and cups individual lot samples–samples that score above an 84 approved as individual lots and then sent off to potential buyers for evaluation.  Buyers cup the samples, and then set the price based on the buyer’s cupping score.  It’s a means for the coffee buyer to directly reward the farmer based on quality.

After reading a bit on the program from our friends at gimme! coffee, including a question and answer session with the Las Mingas program founders Alejandro Cadena and Giancarlo Ghiretti, we contacted Alejandro and through our name in the hat.  Alejandro let us know that he could find small lots that would fit our buying profile.  Last fall, Alejandro sent us three samples from the Tolima region.  All three coffees were excellent, but one stood out above the others.   We approved the sample, agreed on a price based on our cupping score-one well above the fair trade price.

Here are a few details about the farm; I’ll post more on the farm and the coffee tomorrow, along with pictures.  Here’s to what I hope is a continuing relationship, and one of first steps of our part to improve the world of coffee.

Farmer Name: Luis Merchan
Farm Name: Los Naranjos

Farm Location
Department: Tolima
Municipality: Planadas
Elevation: 1,800 m.a.s.l. (5,900 ft)

Farm Size: 3.0 hectares
Total Number of trees: 13,000
Varietals: Coffea Arabica: Caturra (60%) / Colombia (40%)
Estimated Annual Production: 50 bags (70-kg net, each)
Harvest time: April – July / November-January
Processing: Natural fermented and fully washed in tanks
Drying: Sun-dried in “heldas” (traditional drying system built on top of the roofs of houses – with a black plastic on top of the wood, which is covered at night and when raining)
Shade Type: Semi shaded with Guamos
Fertilization: Chemical

Bolivia Cup of Excellence 2009 – Winning Farms

The 2009 Bolivia Cup of Excellence competition completed October 9.  This competition was the next to last on the calendar for this year, with the Brazil competition to complete the season in November.  The international jury, led by Sherri Johns, awarded the Cup of Excellence to thirty lots, including seven lots achieving a CoE Presidential award for scoring higher than 90 points on the final day.  A fine showing for Bolivia, which in the words of a good friend, are “a food group all their own.”

The winning farm listing can also be found on the Cup of Excellence site.

Lot	Farm	Farmer	Score
1	Agrotakesi SA	Mauricio Ramiro Diez de Medina	93.36
2	Café Sima del Jaguar A	Braulio Luque Yana	92.05
3	Café Monterrey	Valentin Choquehuanca Aduviri	91.62
4	Café Jacaranda	Elias Choconapi Chino	91.38
5	Café Alan Coffe	Luis Yujra Arismende	90.90
6	Café Central	Luis Huayhua Chiji	90.71
7	Café Mondono	Carmelo Mamani Titirico	90.17
8	Café Palmeiras 3	Mario Mamani Machaca	89.12
9	Café Origen	Damian Huanca Flores	87.95
10	Café Gelen	Ayda Titirico Hilari	87.52
11	Café COACS Ltda. Aurelio	Eugenia Condori Mamani	86.62
12	Café Kantuta	Rosendo Quispe Tintaya	86.33
13	Café Cooperativa San Ignacio II	Anacleto Uluri Luque	86.26
14	Café Primavera II	Agustina Machaca Quispe	86.12
15	Café Cooperativa San Ignacio V	Juan Coaquira Mamani	85.81
16	Café Wara Wara III	Lucila Isidora Quispe de Quispe	85.60
17	Café Frente a Illimani II	Santusa Lucana de Mamani	85.57
18	Café Flor de Mayo	Pedro Castro Conurana	85.24
19	Café Golondrina	Celso David Mayta Quispe	85.24
20	Café Picaflor	Valentina Flores de M.	85.21
21	Café Alto Asuncion	Eleuteria Villca Salvador	85.17
22	Café Rio Cumbre de la Selva	Gabriel Chura Uluri	85.14
23	Café Primavera	Victor Quispe Mamani	85.00
24	Café Oro	Teodocia Castro Conurana	84.95
25	Café El Sombral	Damian W. Condori Poma	84.81
26	Café Rudi	Franklin Cahuapaza Ticona	84.69
27	Café Flor de Mayo I	Felipe Sacaca Diaz	84.60
28	Café Sofia	Sofia Quisbert Castillo	84.33
29	Café Flor Rosa	Martha Ojeda Mamani	84.33
30	Café Flor de B	Sebastian Olori Huanca	84.21

Guatemala Cup of Excellence 2009 – Winning Farms

The five week marathon of Central American coffee competitions came to a close this week with the finish of the 2009 Guatemala Cup of Excellence competition.   The jury awarded the Cup of Excellence to twenty-three lots, including a repeat #1 winner (El Injerto), and two lots achieving a CoE Presidential award for scoring higher than 90 points on the final day.

I’ve listed the winning lots below; the detailed listing should be available on the CoE site shortly.  Many thanks to Alistair Durie from Elysian Coffee in Vancouver for the regular blog updates and pictures from the event.  Thank you for taking the time to keep us onlookers informed.

Lot	Farm		Score
1	El Injerto I		91.98
2	Monte Cristo		90.58
3	Las Macadamias		89.33
4	Alotepeque (1964)		89.25
5	La Esperanza (1963)		89.25
6	Asuvim		89.05
7	Puerta Verde		88.40
8	La Providencia II		88.35
9	Carmona		88.28
10	El Socorro y Annexos		88.08
11	San Antonio de Esquipulas y Anexos		86.58
12	El Libano		85.83
13	Isnul		85.43
14	El Mirador		85.38
15	Santa Ana		85.25
16	Granja El Tempisque		85.18
17	Claima		85.15
18	El Volcan Raspado		85.10
19	San Julian		85.08
20	La Soledad y Anexos (1869)		84.95
21	Santa Clara y Anexos (1867)		84.95
22	Santa Delfina y Anexos		84.90
23	Florencia y Anexos		84.43

Road Trip – Rojo’s Roastery

Last week I ventured to New York to participate in Royal Coffee NY’s cupping of the top twenty Costa Rica Cup of Excellence coffees.  The afternoon drive offered the opportunity for one coffee-related detour, so I chose to stop by David Waldman’s Rojo’s Roastery in Lambertville, NJ.

The first benefit of the detour was the avoidance of the New Jersey turnpike.  Sure, I had to venture near Philadelphia, but the scenery on that leg easily surpassed that of the turnpike (at least if you could get past the endless billboards advertising the Ford Focus hybid–I counted at least fifteen in and around Philly).  As I crossed the Deleware into New Jersey, not far from Washington’s crossing, I was treated to a scenic journey down River Road into Lambertville. I hadn’t expected to be reminded of my Pennsylvania rural upbringing on this trip, but the twenty mile drive along the river was an unexpected joy.  Put me right in the mood for visiting a small-town, artisan roastery.

When I arrived in the Roastery–my eyes were immediately drawn to this red beauty in the corner.

David was positioned a little off to the right, testing out a shot pulled from an Quickmill Andreja Premium espresso machine he was working over.  After he finished pulling and tasting the shot, we sat down to chat.  David has an extensive coffee history, though he started off as a home roaster.  We talked about his pride and joy, the 1956 fully rebuilt Probat UG15  roaster.  He described the work he and Marty Curtis did to disassemble, refurbish, and reassmble the roaster.  David picked up the roaster from the original owner, and obtained all of the original sales documentation from Probat.  The full pictorial history of the refurbishment can be found here. 

We talked green coffee, including David describing his early involvement with Abdella Bagersh’s Idido Misty Valley coffee, and his friendships with some of the bigger East Coast coffee names–George Howell, Peter Guilano, Marty Curtis, and others.    We shared stories about many of the last year’s lots of coffee that we both enjoyed, lamented that much of the best coffee ends up on the West Coast, and bounced green bean storage ideas off each other.  David brewed a Yemen Hufashi on the Clover–he talked about his disappointment with the bean, but then he was comparing it to last spring’s Sana’ani lot from Royal NY (one of the best Yemeni coffees in recent memory).  I also sampled the house Fetco brew of Timor FTO Maubesse, and his head barista pulled a double shot of their espresso blend.  They just finished installed a new three-group Synesso, and she thought the shots were pulling too acidic–all high-end flavors with no bass note.  I didn’t think them too sour, but agreed with her assessment.  David had to cut short our time (I think we could have talked all evening) to make some deliveries.  He runs the roastery as a one-man band–roaster, bagger, buyer, cupper, deliverer, forklift driver–you name it.

Huge thanks to David and his staff for the coffee and mostly the time taken out of a busy schedule to sit back and talk.   Call this a regular stop everytime I head to The Big Apple.

Rojo’s Roastery
243 North Union Street
Suite 150
Lambertville, NJ 08530
(609) 397-0040

Google map & directions