Q1 2012 that willnow befor‘pulped’ and‘washed’ coffeesonly. willcontinuetoholdtheexistingCup ofExcellence October/November every will now betakingplace,” explainsCup ofExcellence Managing Director, Grant Rattray. always beentoholdaseparatecompetitiononlyfornaturalsandwe’re delightedthatthis that thebestnaturalscandisplay. “From our perspective atACE, theideal solutionhad in thisprocess from specialtycoffee roasters whoappreciate thebodyandcomplexflavors so thatBrazil canshowcase finestexamples.Andthere hasbeenincreasing thevery interest andthenmilledtoremovethe cherry thedried duction. For manyyears, ACE hasbeenexploring tendered andpre-selectionisunderway. will beaddedtotheroster –aswellcompetitioninBrazil asanall-new spotlightingnaturalprocessed . own producers toward heightsofquality. new Cup ofExcellence isstillagoodidea!This year, and Burundi Excellence tobeacompellingwayreach thetargetedpinnacleofinternationalmarkets aswell asstimulatetheir Each withtheiruniquehistory, producing countrieshave politicsandplaceintheglobalspectrum, foundCup of idea inBrazil in1999,noonewouldhaveover imaginedthechangestooccurincoffeeindustry thenextdecade. T fully prepared fortheirfirst full Cup of Excellence in August 2012. wasraisedforthegrowers, washing stationsandorganizers. Burundi isnow ready and A totalof$118,000USD auctionandwe weretogether forasimpleopenoutcry thrilled thatall22winninglotssold…withinjust2hours! just a3-barrel Probat sampleroaster throughout theweek’s cupping.On Saturday, theInternational Jury came Cup ofExcellence competition! Thiswasahugechallengeforthe roasters whomanagedtoprepare allthecoffees on all inplace.In fact,theInternational Jury week beganwiththefullcomplimentof60samples,justlikearegular 2011 Burundi Prestige Cup. Thisevent had been plannedasascaled-down practiceevent toensure thatlogistics were Head Judge Paul Songertrainingcuppersandroasters inpreparation hasspentmanyweeks forthe inthecountry to joinCup earnings. ofExcellence. but heavilydependentuponcoffeeforexport Burundi isatinycountry BURUNDI LATE HARVEST BRAZIL THE 2012: New Horizons for Cup ofExcellence to make what will surely be an astounding (and very busy)year.to makewhatwillsurely beanastounding(andvery When theCup ofExcellence beganasagood he AllianceforCoffee Excellence isexcited toannounce three entirely new Cup of Excellence programs in2012 It’s almosttwoyears sinceACE conversations withstakeholdersinthe firststarted coffeesector Burundi – competition willbethefirstof2012cycle –sampleshave already been host theirfirst Cup of Excellence in May 2012. tition for4years andtheskillslearnedonthis‘Premio Cosecha’ willallow Mexico to genuinely specialtygrades.Mexico hasbeenholdingtheirown internalqualitycompe- qualities andtohelpelevate thereputation of Mexican coffeesfrom finecommercial to marketplace. It willalsochallengegrowers highest andmillstoproduce theirvery arrival ofCup ofExcellence buyers willbringahostofnew from theinternational – theUSAandmuchoftheircoffeehassimplybeentrucked over theborder. The tothenorth . For years, Mexico hasbeenreliant totheirneighbor onexports Pacific totheAtlanticseaboards andfrom MEXICO – is produced throughout the southern part of the country from the Coffeeisproduced ofthecountry throughout thesouthernpart – Natural processedcoffeesrepresent over ¾ofBrazil’s entire pro- pulp) to participate morepulp) toparticipate fullyintheCup ofExcellence ways toencouragegrowers ofnaturalcoffees(driedin C REPORT ACE & CUP OF EXCELLENCE NEWSLETTER EXCELLENCE OF & CUP ALLIANCE FORALLIANCE COFFEE EXCELLENCE Mexico Cityallthewaytoborder with Wednesday 18 Jan Cup these 25 lots & Cup these25 Brazil Auction REMINDER: bid for your favorites! 2012 Raising the Bar – New 85 Point Standard

When the first competition continued to invest in improvements in quality. In the was held in 1999 in Brazil, past few years, more and more lots have achieved the the pass mark to be 84 score. If Cup of Excellence is to continue to offer the awarded Cup of Excellence ‘best of the best,' the scoresheets and standards must be was 80 points. As quality maintained to reflect these new realities. quickly improved on the farms and mills, the From the beginning of the 2012 season, ACE will be passing standard had to be challenging growers, washing stations and mills again by raised to 84 points in 2004. The 'famous' 84 points has increasing the score required to be awarded Cup of been in place ever since and every lot must score Excellence to 85 points. Importers and roasters world- consistently above this mark to pass each round and to wide will continue to find tremendous value in exclusive be awarded as Cup of Excellence. But as demand for coffees that have been cupped with the highest level of specialty coffee grows, producers and mills have scrutiny and consistently risen to the top!

Rwanda Cup of Excellence

he third Cup of Excellence competition held in Rwanda continued the Tongoing success story of international partnerships and of fascinating coffees that captivate cuppers and consumers around the world. The International Jury convened in Kayonza in the Eastern Province and were impressed by the submissions – giving 36 lots scores deserving the Cup of Excellence prize. Grant Rattray describes the scene at the awards ceremony:

“The attendance at the award ceremony was overwhelming. A crowd of more than 3,000 coffee growers, washing station managers, coffee sector personnel, politicians and families from the communities at the south of Lake Kivu filled a football field andthe surrounding hillsides to see the winning growers and washing station representatives collect their awards. Perhaps nowhere else is Cup of Excellence so publicly recognized: it is advertised across the entire country, on the roadside, on buses and on television. Cup of Excellence is now the second largest annual event in the country after the naming day for the new baby gorillas!”

ACE members responded in kind by cupping through the 36 lots and engaging in heavy bidding at the online auction at the end of October. When the dust settled, the coffees from Rwanda’s top washing stations were won by importers and roasters across an impressively even spread: Japan and North America; Europe, Australia and South Korea; and Taiwan and Hong Kong. The gross revenues of $596,000 and average of $8.05/lb are an amazing boon to the producers associated with each lot – some lots comprised the coffee of a dozen growers – some represented the work of over 100 small farmers.

Look for these coffees to land and delight coffee drinkers in the new year! Café Show Seoul

f Japan shares a recent coffee history with Cup of Excellence, ISouth Korea represents the turning pages of this next exciting chapter. No other country has embraced coffee and cafe culture as quickly and enthusiastically as Korea as is evidenced by the many blocks of Seoul with multiple coffee shops, by the overwhelming demand for training in all-things coffee, and by the many new Korean roasters who are members of ACE and buyers of Cup of Excellence. The ACE team all traveled to Seoul for the Cafe Show, a trade and consumer event The Cafe Show also gave ACE the opportunity to present a that doubled in size from last year and attracted 85,000 visitors! fascinating seminar that may only be possible through access to Cup of Excellence farms and coffees. ACE Executive From ACE Head Judge, Sherri Johns: “We love Korea. The food, Director, Susie Spindler, presented a tasting in exploration the people, the coffee. Korea is the fastest growing consuming of the variables that affect flavor in coffee. What are the market in specialty coffee today and for ACE a fast growing perceived differences of tasting the same varietal from group of CoE buyers. We were amazed at the high percentage different countries? Or different varietals from the same of CoE-educated consumers, of the 11,000 (more than twice farm? There is still so much to explore in terms of taste, of 2010), who visited our booth tasting recent CoE winning but Cup of Excellence coffees open the door for progressive farms roasted by our members in Korea. Korea brew on!” producers and likeminded roasters to work together.

SCAJ Annual Conference

Japan has a historically unique relationship with the Cup of Excellence. As CoE competi- tions, auction and coffees shifted paradigms around the world about what defines quality and traceability, Japanese roasters entered the marketplace and were early adopters of the new standards. Some smaller roasters built their businesses while participating on Interna- tional Juries and buying at auctions – creating brand awareness and then expectation and demand among their customers. Large roasters and importers also engage in CoE because of the niche market that has been created. You can see such strong support at each Cup of Excellence auction; ACE enjoys reciprocating support by attending the SCAJ Conference each year.

Tokyo's Big Sight is the perennial venue for the conference and during the show hours, the place is buzzing with attendees eager to taste and talk. This year, ACE was able to feature the recent winners from Rwanda as well as a sneak preview of the Prestige Cup coffees from Burundi. As always, it was great to connect with many members, to be hosted by our friends in Japan and to make new connections within the growing coffee landscape. ACE Training Courses 2012 INTERNATIONAL JURY WEEK Debut in Australia & AUCTION SCHEDULE ACE Head Judges Paul Songer and Erwin Mierisch traveled down under to conduct first- BRAZIL (Late Harvest) of-their-kind training courses International Jury ...... Jan. 23-27, 2012 for enthusiastic roasters and Auction ...... March 14, 2012 aspiring cuppers in Australia. Billed as intermediate level International Jury ...... April 30 - May 4, 2012 courses, the Roasting and Auction ...... June 21, 2012 Cupping events planned for Melbourne sold out quickly after registra- tion was opened. There is an obvious appreciation and demand for a more technical and thorough presentation of skills that are typically de- International Jury ...... April 30 - May 4, 2012 veloped in the isolation of one’s business – trial by fire, as they say. As Auction ...... June 26, 2012 Australia’s coffee culture continues to develop and more and more Cup of Excellence coffee is destined for roasters there, the skills attained for COSTA RICA experiences like these will serve well. International Jury ...... May 7-11, 2012 Auction ...... July 3, 2012

ACE plans to expand and extend it’s training courses – if you are interested GUATEMALA in hosting ACE training in your region, contact [email protected] International Jury ...... May 14-18, 2012 Auction ...... July 12, 2012

HONDURAS International Jury ...... May 14-18, 2012 Maps and Media Auction ...... July 18, 2012

s the years roll on, the body of data within each country grows and MEXICO Agrows – where do the Cup of Excellence producers come from? Are International Jury ...... May 21-25, 2012 there particular regions from which the growers continue to win? ACE is Auction ...... July 25, 2012 working on collecting data in a way that draws meaningful conclusions from the Cup of Excellence. In the meantime, it is always interesting to BURUNDI see maps like this one produced by ANACAFE plotting the winners from International Jury ...... August 20-24, 2012 the 2010 and 2011 programs on the Guatemala map. The FNC also pro- Auction ...... October 17, 2012 vided a retrospective powerpoint look at stats and winners from the his- RWANDA tory of their program. If you have any interest in the winners and regions International Jury ...... August 25-30, 2012 from particular countries, contact ACE; we would like to work together Auction ...... October 24, 2012 with the producing countries to deliver the information you can use. Maybe even more compelling than the raw data of past competitions are the stories behind the producers or the Cup of Excellence story told from International Jury ...... Sept. 10-14, 2012 Auction ...... October 31, 2012 the producers’ point of view. created a fantastic film with inter- views of winners from 2004-2011. Nicaragua created a video document- BRAZIL (Early Harvest) ing this year’s competition. International Jury ...... November 5-9, 2012 And Costa Rica is spotlighted Auction ...... January 10, 2013 thanks to the movie pro- duced by Toby’s Estate of Australia. All of these can be seen on the ‘Video Clips’ 2012 jury application is online! page of the website and add to the vibrant value as you Please fill out an application for share Cup of Excellence with International Jury and Observer placements. your customers. Mark your country preference and we will contact you regarding availability.