A washed Geisha from Finca Santa Lucia in the Comayagua region won first place in the 2021 Honduras Cup of Excellence (CoE) with a score of 90.67 points.
The coffee was harvested at 1550 meters by Desarrollos Santa Lucia of the Mierisch family. Described as having notes of jasmine, rose, tea and lemon-lime, the Mierisch family also won gold at the 2019 Honduras CoE.
Announced by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe), the 2021 event marks the 17th CoE in Honduras and saw 25 CoE winners and 15 National Winner Coffees.
Of the 25 CoE winners, 17 of the coffee lots were from the Santa Bárbara region and six Presidential Awards were given to coffee producers scoring 90 points and above.
Adilson Ávila, General Manager of Ihcafe says, “The contest not only promotes the winning coffees at an international level, generating business opportunities for them, but also the image of our country as a producer of high-quality coffees is promoted worldwide.”
Second place was a natural Typica from Finca Platanares in the Lempira region. Produced by by Iris Dariela Carvajal, the coffee earned 90.4 points. Carvajal’s father placed third in the competition scoring 90.35 with a honey processed Typica from Los Pinos, also in the Lempira region. This is the first time in the Honduras CoE history that a daughter and father have placed in the same competition.
Pedro Mendoza, President of the Ihcafe Board of Directors says, “It is a source of pride to represent these excellent producers who recognise quality as the way forward, to get ahead in the highly competitive world of specialty coffees.”
The awards were held at an in-person ceremony in Tegucigalpa, presented by Ebal Díaz, the former Honduran Minister of the Presidency. The competition saw 238 producers participate. These producers were evaluated by a team of national jurists and Global Coffee Centers (GCCs) from around the world.
The 25 CoE winning lots scored 87 points and above with these coffee lots set to be auctioned on 19 August. The 15 National Winner coffee lots scored 85 points and above during the International Phase, qualifying them for the National Winner auctions held from 9 to 20 of August.
Sample sets of the winning coffees are available to purchase before the auctions through the ACE. Interested parties must be an ACE member to register for samples and auctions.
For more details on the winning coffees and auction details please visit https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/honduras-2021/