Three origins hold successful auctions as Cup of Excellence marks 50th programme

Three origins hold successful auctions as Cup of Excellence marks 50th programme
20th July 2009

Three more Central American origins held Cup of Excellence auctions in late June and early July, bringing in good interest and strong prices from international bidders, the COE reported.

In Honduras in late June, Japan’s Kyokuto Fadie Corp bid $18.75 a pound to secure the number one lot in the Cup of Excellence competition, 25 boxes of the Pacas variety from Bertilio Reyes Portillo’s farm in the country’s Santa Barbara region.

Another Japanese bid, from Maruyama Coffee (for the Mikatajuku group) and Yokoi Coffee, netted the second place coffee, 26 boxes of Bourbon from Jobneel Cácares Díaz’s El Nacimiento farm (also in Santa Barbara), for $13.60 a pound.

Norway’s World Barista Champion Tim Wendelboe secured the fifth place coffee with the third highest bid in the auction — $12.05 per pound — for 26 boxes of Catuaí from Extreberto Cáceres Gutiérrez’s Cielito Lindo farm in the same area.

The Honduras auction brought in a good deal of Norwegian interest; besides Wendelboe, Kaffebrenneriet took three of the lots and SCAE Pioneer Member Solberg & Hansen, which has participated in every Cup of Excellence auction, won two lots (one on behalf of coffee house Stockfleths). The UK’s Has Bean Coffee and Gala Coffee each acquired a lot in the auction as well, the COE reported.

The 50th Cup of Excellence programme was marked in Nicaragua in early July, with the top coffee lot — 36 boxes of Maracaturra from the La Esperanza farm in the El Volcan region, produced by Maria Amparo Castellano Paguaga — netting a huge $31.05 per pound from successful bidders Hiro Coffee Co of Japan.

The second place coffee, 34 boxes of Caturra from the El Recuerdo farm in the same area, run by José Efrain Espinales Bautista, brought in a winning bid of $9.95 per pound from Maruyama Coffee on behalf of the Mikatajuku group and Sugi Coffee Roasting.

The third best price in the Nicaragua auction went to the fourth highest scoring lot, 37 boxes of Maragogipe from the La Picona farm in the Las Manos region, run by Olga Marina González Cuadra. Mercanta the Coffee Hunters of the UK secured the coffee for Fortnum & Mason and Spain’s Cafés El Magnifico for $8.96 a pound.

Kaffebrenneriet was again prominent among the successful bidders at the Nicaragua auction, while Mercanta took another lot for a group including Bean14 and Has Bean of the UK, Dutch Barista of the Netherlands, Austria’s Kaffeespezialitaet and Sviezia kava of Lithuania, among others. Germany’s InterAmerican Coffee, Café Kaiser Konditorei and Elbgold Kaffeerösterei got together to acquire a further auction lot.

In the most recent Cup of Excellence auction in Guatemala, Standing Egg Co took the top coffee, 36 boxes of Pacamara from the El Injerto I farm in Huehuetenango. The winning bid was $22.04 per pound.

Solberg & Hansen bid the second highest price in the auction — $14.55 — for the number three lot, 42 boxes of another Huehuetenango coffee, a Bourbón from the Las Macadamias farm.

The second place coffee, 32 boxes of Caturra from another Huehue farm, Benjamin Villatoro’s Monte Cristo, took the third best price in the auction, $12.10 per pound, from Maruyama Coffee, acting for the Mikatajuku group, Iwai Coffee and Uchida Coffee.

Among the other successful bidders for Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence winners were Mercanta, which acquired three lots while acting for Fortnum & Mason, for Norway’s Den Gyldne Bønne, and for a diverse group of customers including Has Bean Coffee, La Boheme Coffee from the Czech Republic, Imperial Coffee and Bailies Coffee from the UK and Duthc Barista from the Netherlands. Tim Wendelboe netted another Guatemalan winner too, as did bidding partners Café Kaiser Konditorei of Germany and Swiss roaster Rast Kaffee.