Central America’s Cup of Excellence season has come to a close, with six countries successfully taking part in the 2024 coffee competition and auction.
El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico participated this year. Each country held a three-week competition to determine the qualifying coffees that would score high enough to be awarded a Cup of Excellence (COE) and be sold online to the highest bidder.
Of the qualifying coffees, a total of 192 lots were auctioned averaging $21.54 per pound. Over the course of the six auctions, 21,661 bids were placed. The highest lot price came to a total of US$2.6 million. From 706 total bidders, 128 were successful in securing a winning lot.
The highest gross auction amount was Costa Rica at $655,786, which was almost $271,000 more than its total in 2023.
Coffees that receive a COE award are evaluated by both a national and international jury. In addition to this, 172 professional cuppers from 24 countries scored the winners throughout the auction process. A total of 39 lots scored over 90 points while 31 of the winning farms were owned by women, and 37 owned by farmers taking part in the competition for the first time.
According to the organisation, the competition aims to develop integrity and transparency in the coffee industry ensuring the high quality of COE coffees. In its mission to improve the economic model of coffee farms, the award affords farmers with the recognition for their work.
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