2021 Ethiopia Cup of Excellence Ends with Five 90+ Coffees, Auction Forthcoming

2021 Ethiopia Cup of Excellence 1st- and 5th-place-winning coffee producer Tamiru Tadesse Tesema. All images courtesy of Cup of Excellence.

The second-ever Ethiopia Cup of Excellence green coffee competition resulted in 39 lots scoring 87+ points, with five of those coffees exceeding the 90-point mark, according to an international jury.

Representing different growing areas, processing methods and farm types, the winning coffee lots came from a record-breaking number of entries (1,849) for any countrywide Cup of Excellence competition, according to the organizers.

The Ethiopia COE is supported by Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association and the USAID-funded Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity (VCA).

Related Reading

• First Ethiopia Cup of Excellence Auction Generates Record High $1.34 Million
• US Labor Dept. Awards $5 Million Grant to Address Child Labor and Gender Inequality in Ethiopia
• Climate Change Will Alter the Specialty Coffee Landscape in Ethiopia, Study Shows

All Ethiopia COE-winning coffees are heading to auctions, beginning with an auction of “National Winners” — each scoring between 86.41-87.32 — taking place June 28 through July 9. The 30 COE-winning coffees, including all five 90+ lots, will head to online auction Wednesday, July 7.

The inaugural 2020 Ethiopia Cup of Excellence auction set all-time COE program highs in prices paid on average per pound ($28) and total sales ($1.34 million among the 28 winning lots).

Among the five lots scoring 90+ points this year — thereby earning the COE’s “Presidential Award” — an anaerobic-processed coffee grown by Tamiru Tadesse Tesema from the Sidama region, Bensa zone, took the top spot, with a score of 90.60. 

“The coffee we grow in our area is of high quality,” Tamiru Tadesse Tesema said in an announcement from COE. “I wanted to promote it and that is why I took part in the competition. 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.”

Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the final international judging round of the competition took place at various COE-sanctioned centers throughout the globe.

2nd-place winner Dawencho GHD Bunna Amrach.

“A diversity of fine flavors came through from the processes — natural to honey to anaerobic — bright, floral, apricot, and red wine and muscat,” said COE international judge Shinji Sekine of Japan’s Wataru & Co. “We are very satisfied with the result of cupping these lots as CoE winners and hope bidders will also be satisfied with the quality.”

For more on the 2021 Ethiopia Cup of Excellence winners and auction, check out this page. Additional upcoming COE auctions include Colombia (June 3) and Nicaragua (June 29).