Coffee Cup of Excellence to be Awarded

The Coffee cup of excellence stages two and three are slated for this 22nd to 25th of August 2011. The best coffee will be awarded on 26th August at Karongi District

This follows the pre-selection stage of coffee samples that was done by experienced international and national coffee cuppers between 18-22 last month.

The first stage was aimed at eliminating poor quality coffees.

Out of 189 samples that were brought to the competition, 132 samples qualified for the international jury selection.

The Coffee Cup of Excellence benefits coffee farmers, as the winning coffees are sold through an Internet auction to the highest bidder.

In 2010 the top winning coffee was awarded by The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister and was then sold at $52.05 per kilo and the last at $16.09.

These coffees have a very rare and exemplary quality. They are perfectly ripe, carefully sorted and processed, with well-developed body, pleasant aroma and a lively sweetness that only extremely high quality specialty coffees contain.

Each winning coffee has its own flavor signature from the soil where it grows and has been handcrafted to enhance its unique characteristics.

The Cup of Excellence Program is owned by non-profit Alliance for Coffee Excellence INC and is dedicated to exemplary coffee and coffee farmers.

Since 1999, the Cup of Excellence programs have been hosted in Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Colombia and 2011 will be the third time in Rwanda.

The Alliance for Coffee Excellence team in collaboration with the National Agriculture Export Development Board are in charge of bringing this program and competition to the African continent for the third time.

The Rwandan coffee sector aims at recognising quality coffee from big and small farms. The competition is normally conducted in three stages.