Costa Rican
Specialty Coffee Sets Records At Auction
Costa Rican coffee broke records at the
third annual Subasta Internacional Taza de
la Excelencia (Cup of Excellence auction)
promoted by the Instituto del Café de Costa
Rica (Icafe) and the Asociación de Cafés
Finos de Costa Rica.
Each of the 24 different coffees taking part
in the auction sent out 300gr samples to
some 130 companies around the world in an
effort to promote small coffee growers
during the economic crisis.
This years prices for the first place,
average and lowest was much higher than last
years.
The first place coffee was by Héctor
Bonilla, of the Llano Bonito de León Cortés
which sold for us$1.545 per quintal*, $35
dollars per quintal higher than in 2008.
The winning purchaser was Tashiro Coffee of
Japan.
The general average price this year was
us$713 per quintal, while in 2008 it was
us$558. The lowest price registered was
us$506 per quintal, compared to us$275 last
year,
The auction was held over the internet and
Arnaldo Leiva of the Asociación de Cafés
Finos de Costa de Rica, said that internet
auctions are an inexpensive way for small
producer to be known around the world and to
sell their crops for a better price.
The Cup of Excellence is the most esteemed
award given out for specialty coffees.
Cup of Excellence was started by a group of
dedicated coffee connoisseurs who along with
international governmental support and NGOs
thought that a competition and auction was
an effective way to recognize farmers
monetarily for their hard work and effort.
For more info on the Cup of Excellence
go to:
http://www.cupofexcellence.org/
A quintal is a unit of mass in the metric
system equal to 100 kilograms.
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