CENTRAL AMERICA 25th August 2010

Online auctions in June and July netted some record prices for a number of winning coffees in the Cup of Excellence programme.

The number one coffee from this year's Nicaragua Cup of Excellence competition in June--38 30-kg boxes from the El Esfuerzo farm--was eventually won for $35.65 per pound by Japan's Maruyama Coffee, bidding on behalf of the Mikatajuku Group. Another Japanese bid, from roaster Ueshima Coffee Co for $14.65 per pound, won the second highest priced coffee, 34 boxes from Erwin Mierisch Buitrago's Los Altos farm, which placed fifth in the competition. The Monte Cristo farm, which produced a lot of 39 boxes, came second in the competition, and took the third highest price--a $12.55 per pound bid from Bontain Coffee and Time's Club for C-Coop.

While Asian traders and roasters took many of the winning coffees from Nicaragua this year, successful European bids came from Mercanta (representing Andronicas Coffee, Has Bean and Twoday Coffee Roasters in the UK, Kaffitár in Iceland, Austria's Kaffeespezialitaet, Åre Kafferosteri in Sweden, Golden Coffee Box of the Netherlands and Cafés El Magnifico in Spain, among others), Kaffebrenneriet of Norway and Germany's Elbgold Kaffeerösterei.

US-based Coffee Bean International, acting for Target, claimed the number one lot in the El Salvador Cup of Excellence auction, 36 boxes from the Suiza estate, for a record $28.00 per pound. The number two competition coffee, 35 boxes from the El Ausol farm, went to Japan's Kyokuto Fadie Corp and Time's Club for C-Coop for $17.55 a pound, while the third highest price--$10.25 per pound--netted the 46-bag lot from the San Joaquin farm, which came sixth in the competition.

Among the European companies successfully bidding for winning lots were Mercanta (for Has Bean, as well as Twoday Coffee Roasters, Åre Kafferosteri and Andronicas Coffee, and for Monmouth Coffee Co), Kaffebrenneriet, and Mareterra from Spain.

The Honduras Cup of Excellence auction in July brought the highest price ever paid for a Honduras coffee in the programme, $22.05 per pound bid by Time's Club on behalf of C-Coop, Hisashi Yamamoto Coffee and Your Coffee of Japan, and for Coffee Libre of South Korea. The record price went to secure the 43-box lot of coffee from the Don Amado farm that placed first in the competition.

The third placed coffee in the competition, 37 boxes from the Pino de Oro farm, netted the second highest price--$13.50 per pound--from bidders St Ali and Sensory Lab from Australia. The fourth placed coffee in the competition, 44 boxes from the Fernández farm, garnered the third best price in the auction, $10.25 a pound from US-based bidders Royal Coffee NY, Café Grumpy and Rojo's Roastery.

Among the European bidders for the Honduras winners were Kaffebrenneriet, Solberg & Hansen, Crema Kaffebrenneri and Tim Wendelboe from Norway, Sweden's Löfbergs Lila, Irma from Denmark, and Paul Verbunt Koffie from the Netherlands.

The highest price reached for a coffee in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence auction in July was $28.00 a pound, bid by C&C Co for the 35 boxes from the El Injerto I farm, which came first in the competition. The number two competition coffee, 38 boxes from the Rosma farm, netted $22.10 per pound from Maruyama Coffee, on behalf of the Mikatajuku Group. Norway's Solberg & Hansen claimed the third coffee in the competition, 40 boxes from the Las Macadamias farm, for $19.00 a pound.

The other successful European bidders for Guatemalan coffees in this year's auction included Mercanta (on behalf of Has Bean, Twoday Coffee Roasters, Red Roaster and Bailies Coffee of the UK, Golden Coffee Box, Åre Kafferosteri and Belgium's Café Knopes), Kaffebrenneriet, Bewleys from Ireland and the UK's Union Hand Roasted.

You can get more details on the Cup of Excellence programme from the website.