Tamiru Tadesse Tesema, from the Bensa zone in the Sidama region, has won the 2021 Ethiopia Cup of Excellence (CoE), scoring 90.06 points out of a potential 100 with an Anaerobic processed coffee.
“The coffee we grow in our area is of high quality. I wanted to promote it and that is why I took part in the competition,” says Tesema.
“I am very happy for having the opportunity and very honored to have won the Presidential Award. It is the greatest acknowledgment for our hard work.”
Results for the 2021 Ethiopia CoE competition were released by the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association, Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity (VCA), and Alliance for Coffee Excellence.
Out of the 40 finalists, five coffee lots score 90 points or more, earning the highest recognition in the competition, the Presidential Award.
The top 30 coffees all achieved a quality score of 87 points or more, qualifying them all as Winners of the competition.
Across the Cup of Excellence Winners, a range of processes were used including 22 Naturals, five Anaerobic, one Honey, one Anaerobic Natural, and one Washed variety.
The remaining nine coffees scored 85 point or more, qualifying them as National Winners. Of these, five National Winners set records by scoring 87 points, the highest National Winner score.
Within the National Winner Category, eight processes were Natural, and one was Honey.
Only one coffee was disqualified due to a low score.
“As we have learned from the first Cup of Excellence Competition our country will immensely benefit from the promotion and market, which means coffee growers will get the incentive they deserve for their hard work,” says Adugna Debela, Director General of Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority.
“I would like to congratulate all the winners, as well as the organisers who worked hard for the success of this competition.”
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the final competition round was held outside Ethiopia using a panel of internationally recognised cuppers.
Coffee samples were also sent to the Global Coffee Centers (GCCs) across the globe, including United States, Japan, and Australia.
“We were very pleased to perform the cupping of CoE international stage as a GCC for the original coffee producing country, Ethiopia,” says Shinji Sekine, Managing Director of Wataru & Co in Japan.
The 30 Cup of Excellence Winners will see their coffess auctioned on July 7. The 9 National Winners will be sold over the course of a two-week auction held from June 28 to July 9. 134 international coffee buyers have already registered to participate in the auction.
For more information on the auction and winning coffees please click here.
