Lifetime Achievement prize for Hacienda La Esmeralda at SCAE’s Copenhagen awards evening
24th June 2008
Hacienda La Esmeralda, the source of the highly prized Geisha coffees from Panama, won the SCAE’s highest honour, the Lifetime Achievement award, at the Awards for Coffee Excellence evening dinner held during late June’s Wonderful Coffee event in Copenhagen.
Price Peterson, of the family that has owned La Esmeralda for several decades, was on hand to accept the award, along with members of his family.
The awards evening was hosted by SCAE Past President Colin Smith, who chaired the Awards Committee, and by Stefanie Hoffmann of the Berlin School of Coffee. Japanese roaster/retailer UCC sponsored the awards at the glittering evening gathering, held at the Danish capital’s harbourside Halvandet venue.
Also winning awards during the evening were Denmark’s up-and-coming coffee roaster/retailing operation Coffee Collective, which took the Young Entrepreur Award; roaster Omkafe of Italy, which earned the Hidden Treasure Award; Serif Basaran of Turkey who was named this year’s Passionate Educator; and Belgian Pioneer Member and green trader Efico, which took the Innovation and Design Award for its environmentally responsible business activities.
The SCAE’s Coffee Photography Competition, now in its second year, attracted a number of high quality entries, and this year was won by an image produced by Spanish photographer Eugenio Santos. Nicolas Rueda of the Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers—the platinum event sponsor of Wonderful Coffee 2008—announced the winning image.
Pictured: Members of the Peterson family accept the Lifetime Achievement award from awards sponsor UCC's CEO Tatsushi Ueshima (photo by Charles Prager)