Competition and auction

Cup of Excellence (competition)

Cup of Excellence is the leading origin-level coffee competition, born in 1999 from a project to help farmers earn more for high-quality coffee and first run with Brazilian partners. Winning lots are sold through transparent online auctions, and the results are used here as facts about farms, varieties and processing rather than as a certification. The program now runs in about eleven producing countries.

Register: OpenAnyone can check who holds it
Founded: 1999
Run by: Cup of Excellence (nonprofit) with the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE, Portland, Oregon)
Covers: Farms and producer groups

What it requires

In this atlas's own words

Not a certification: a national competition and online auction. Every lot is scored blind by a national jury, then an international jury, over six rounds; samples must score 86 or more to advance, and lots scoring at least 87 in the final round win a Cup of Excellence award, with up to 30 going to auction. Lots with major defects are eliminated.

Countries active

Nicaragua El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras Guatemala Mexico Thailand Indonesia Brazil PeruTaiwan

Checking a claim

The register

Open to the public

No register address recorded.

Historical results are published openly on the Cup of Excellence and ACE sites; scores, prices and farm names are facts that can be cited, but no data licence was found.

Logo use

The COE award logo is governed by a 'COE Logo Use' policy that was not captured in this collection.