Bahia coffee wins top $24 bid in Cup of Excellence auction

29th January 2010

A 38-box lot of Catuaí from Fazenda Ouro Verde in the Piatã region of Bahia state attracted the top bid of $24.05 per pound from a group of Asian bidders in the Brazil Cup of Excellence auction held in late January, COE said. The coffee also placed highest in the international judging, which took place in November.

Japan-based Time’s Club (acting for C-CooP and Hisashi Yamamoto Coffee), Bontain Coffee, Tashiro Coffee, Arab Coffee, along with Terarosa of Korea and Taiwan’s Orsir Coffee won the pulped natural coffee, from Cândido Vladimir Ladeia Rosa’s 100-hectare farm.

The number five coffee in the judging — 41 30kg boxes of pulped naturals from Antonio Rigno De Oliveira’s Chacara São Judas Tadeu farm in the same area — fetched the second highest price: $10.50 per pound in the auction from winning bidder JuBean Coffee of Seoul, South Korea.

Tokyo, Japan’s Toa Coffee bid $10.10 a pound to win the third highest selling coffee in the auction, 44 boxes of pulped natural Acaia and Yellow Bourbon from Paulo Sergio Noronha Barleta’s Fazenda Sant’ana near Olimpio Noronha in southern Minas Gerais. The coffee had taken achieved the second highest score from the international judges.

Besides the Japanese bidders and a strong presence from Korea in the Brazil auction, successful European bidders continued to be well represented, including Kaffebrenneriet of Norway, Gala Coffee of the UK, Sweden’s Löfbergs Lila, acting for Baresso Coffee and Peter Larsens Kaffe in Denmark and UK-based Mercanta the Coffee Hunters acting for several British firms including Bolling Coffee, Andronicas Coffee, Has Bean, Monmouth Coffee and Twoday Coffee Roasters, as well as for Netherlands-based Dutch Barista, Java Coffee Co from Poland and Kaffitár of Iceland.

The auction marked the tenth anniversary of the Cup of Excellence programme in Brazil, the origin where it was introduced in 1999 with the assistance of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association. This year’s auction netted an average price of $7.32 per pound for the 26 lots on offer.