Mercanta’s $20.10 per pound bid gets Cup of Excellence winner

12th June 2008

A 17-bag lot of Bourbon from Juan Jose Ernesto Menéndez Argüello’s La Ilusión farm at Santa Ana brought in a whopping $20.10 a pound in El Salvador’s 2008 Cup of Excellence internet auction, held in early June.

UK speciality coffee importer and SCAE member Mercanta made the winning bid for the top coffee in the country’s 2008 programme, acting on behalf of retailer Fortnum and Mason and roaster Has Bean, as well as Orsir Coffee in Taiwan, Den Gyldne Bønne from Norway and Canada’s 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters.

Second in the bidding, at $10.16 per pound, was the Pacamara variety from Marco Antonio Batres and Teresa Eugenia Giammattei’s Santa Teresa Nicolas Mountain farm, which achieved fourth place in the competition. A North American group made up of Sacred Grounds Coffee Roasters, 49th Parallel Roasters, Olympia Roasting Co, Ecco Caffe, Transcend Coffee, Café Imports and Coffee Roasters of New Orleans were the successful bidders.

The judges’ second place coffee, 12 bags from Eduardo Francisco de Jesús Castro Magaña’s Pacamaral farm, brought in the third best price in the auction, $9.55 per pound. That coffee was won by Japan-based Maruyama Coffee, acting for the Mikatajuku group, Iwai Coffee and Orsir Coffee.