Cup of Excellence nets $18.55 per pound for top-priced coffee

5th June 2008

Once again dominated by speciality roasters and traders from Japan and Europe, Nicaragua’s internet auction of the winning coffees from its 2008 Cup of Excellence programme in late May brought the number two coffee the top price of $18.55 per pound.

The 14 bags of JavaNica variety from Ethel McEwan’s La Gloria and Limoncillo farms in Dahlia, Matagalpa, were won by a group of US bidders, comprising Oren’s Daily Roast, Coffee Klatch, Intelligentsia, Kean Coffee, Lamill Coffee, PT’s Coffee Roasting Co and Café Imports.

The highest scoring of the Nicaraguan coffees, the 17-bag lot from Mauricio Esteban Vilchez Urbina’s Cerro del Cielo farm in Mozonte, Nueva Segovia achieved the second best price, at $16.05 per pound. Japanese coffee supplier Kyokuto Fadie Corp was the successful bidder.

Two Norwegian SCAE members—Solberg & Hansen and Kaffebrenneriet—successfully obtained the third and fourth best coffees in the programme. Solberg & Hansen bid $14.25, the third best price in the auction, for the number four coffee, 16 bags of caturra from the Divina Providencia estate at Dipito, owned by Misael Sauceda Olivera. Kaffebrenneriet took the third place Cup of Excellence coffee, 23 bags from Francisco Esteban Bendaña McEwan’sEl Guaval farm, by bidding $10.85.