CoE keeps supporting farmers during such a challenging time
A demanding year
The coffee sector – just like any other sector – has been challenged by the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. During this unprecedented situation, the Cup of Excellence (CoE) has played a crucial role, raising over $4.5 million USD for farmers (Cup of Excellence, 2021). The 2020 auction results were exceptional, with more than three thousand participating farmers (Alliance for Coffee Excellence, n.d.). Now a new year has started and, hoping that the global situation will improve soon, the CoE keeps supporting the coffee industry.
The protocol adopted in such a challenging time
The pandemic is forcing the world to find new solutions. In such a challenging and unprecedented time, the Cup of Excellence keeps promoting the mission of discovering and rewarding coffee farmers thanks to the auctions. While waiting to get back to normality, the CoE is working with modified competition protocols aiming at keeping safe all actors involved (Cup of Excellence, 2021), by working on contingency plans in order to examine all entries (Darrin, 2020). Due to the ongoing crisis, the coffees for the international phase will be sent to global coffee centres around the world, as the jury week will not take place in-country for 8 of the countries. As far as Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia and Peru are concerned, the situation is being constantly monitored to see if and how international judges can be received in-country. Moreover, a new cupping method has been introduced. It is called Individual Set Cupping and it eliminates the risk of cross contamination while allowing the judges to cup and score in the way they are used to (Cup of Excellence, 2021).
Upcoming auctions and the Tanzania Ngorongoro Private Collection Auction
While waiting for the upcoming auctions – the first one will be Colombia, May 20th (Alliance for Coffee Excellence, 2021b) – other initiatives are taking place. On February 2nd, 2021, The Alliance for Coffee Excellence, in partnership with Portland Global Initiatives and the Ngorongoro Coffee Group, were glad to host the 2021 Tanzania Ngorongoro Private Collection Auction (Alliance for Coffee Excellence, 2021a). This auction has involved 6 producers who provided almost 40 lots from the Ngorongoro region. Make sure to check the auction results!
Bibliography
Alliance for Coffee Excellence. (n.d.). CoE Auction Results. Retrieved February 3, 2021, from CoE Auction Results website: https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/competition-auction-results/
Alliance for Coffee Excellence. (2021a). Private Collection Auction With Ngorongoro Coffee Group. Tanzanian Specialty Coffee. Retrieved February 3, 2021, from Auctions website: https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/2021-tanzania-ngorongoro-pca/
Alliance for Coffee Excellence. (2021b). Upcoming Auctions. Retrieved February 2, 2021, from Auctions website: https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/upcoming-auctions/?utm_source=Newsletter+list&utm_campaign=4dedf0f5e5-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_129fab4bcc-4dedf0f5e5-160690206
Cup of Excellence. (2021). Global Coffee Centers (GCCs). Retrieved February 3, 2021, from Cup of Excellence. About website: https://cupofexcellence.org/global-coffee-centers/
Darrin, D. (2020). Statement from our Executive Director. Retrieved February 3, 2021, from Covid-19 Updates. Alliance for Coffee Excellence website: https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/blog/2020/03/12/statement-from-our-executive-director/
