A Super Mujeres auction sample set. Images courtesy of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence.
The inaugural Super Mujeres coffee competition in Nicaragua has resulted in a superior selection of high-grown arabica coffees, with 11 of the 18 winners being grown under organic conditions.
All of the winning coffees — including an organic-certified, washed-process, Paraeinema-variety coffee grown by Mary Elsy Caldera of 5 De Junio Cooperative that scored 87.67 — will be available through an online auction scheduled for Thursday, June 23.
More importantly, all of the coffees were produced by women, thanks to a program collaboration between the nonprofit Alliance for Coffee Excellence and Nicaragua’s National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming (CONATRADEC).
The competition and auction program reflects not only a wonderful diversity of high-quality arabica coffees, but also Nicaragua’s national efforts towards social and economic gender equality.
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In the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Gender Gap Report, Nicaragua ranked first among all Latin American countries and 12 globally in terms of gender equality. By comparison, the United States ranked 30th globally.
“We’d like to congratulate all the women coffee farmers who participated in the Super Mujeres competition,” Jommalyn Angeles of Cypher Urban Roastery in Dubai, one of nine companies comprising the competition’s global jury, said in an announcement from ACE. “We really enjoyed how balanced, clean, structured, and complex these coffees were. Great coffee comes from hard work and dedication. We are wishing all the super mujeres best of luck in the auction.”
Martha Morena Castilblanco of the Alejandrita farm in Jinotega took third place in the competition with a natural-process Catuai Rojo coffee that scored 87.47, according to the international jury.
The Super Mujeres auction is part of ACE’s Private Collection Auction (PCA) series. Other ACE Private Collection Auctions in recent years have fetched top dollar from buyers all over the globe seeking farm-traceable, high-quality microlots. Last September, the Best of Yemen auction resulted in an average price per pound of more than $63, while the inaugural Taiwan PCA reached a per-pound average of $94.50.
Additional upcoming ACE Private Collection Auctions include Taiwan PCA (June 30) and “One of a Kind Guatemala” (July 28).
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