The Cup of Excellence (CoE) and Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) have split into two separate organisations, each with its own focus and funding opportunities.
The CoE, which was formerly owned and operated by ACE, recently became a 501c (3) tax-exempt nonprofit organisation enabling more opportunity to access greater funding for in-country development.
As such, the CoE will focus on the competition parameters and scoring, increasing market access to more farmers, education of both international and national cuppers, quality coffee research, and technical and farmer education.
Meanwhile, ACE will remain the primary marketplace partner for the CoE program and will focus on CoE, National Winner, and Private Collection Auctions along with membership benefits and consumer awareness.
The two organisations say they will remain closely tied together with an advisory panel crossover as well as resource and staff sharing. The ACE Board of Directors, however, will be elected by the members and the CoE Board will be nominated.
The CoE Board of Directors has appointed Thomas Pulpan, Director and Founder of Kaffebrenneriet, and Carl Cervone, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Enveritas as its Board Members. Noelia Villalobos, Executive Director of the Specialty Coffee Association of Costa Rica, will now hold the position of Board Chair.
“I am honoured to be part of this new CoE family and have the opportunity to give back. CoE has given so much to our coffee and our producers,” says Noelia Villalobos, Chair of the CoE Board of Directors.
“This split will help each organisation focus on specific topics and areas to enable even more their outreach; always as sister organisations.”
The Alliance for Coffee Excellence has extended its board from 11 to 13 members with some member shifts occurring. As a result, there are eight positions open for the membership-based nonprofit.
Board elections are now in progress with ACE members, in-country partners and Head Judges voting in the elections. Voting will end 19 November and an announcement will be made shortly thereafter.
“For supporters of the CoE program there will not be much of a visible change,” says Darrin Daniel, Executive Director for both organisations. “ACE and CoE will always be closely tied together prioritising producer recognition and quality discovery.”
ACE has recently opened its 2022 membership and is preparing to run its first-ever Ecuador CoE auction at the end of November followed by Peru. CoE is currently managing the final stages of the Brazil CoE competition and will soon be starting the national stage of the first-ever Indonesia competition.
For more information, visit www.allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org. or www.cupofexcellence.org.
