Focus Media (Kigali)
Timothy Kisambira
3 September 2008
With a score of 90%, the coffees of Mike Burema and Fako Rulindo were the winners of the first Cup of Excellence ever to be held in Africa. The competition closed last Friday in Kigali.
Susie Spindler, the executive director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, said that this year's Cup of Excellence (CoE) in Rwanda was fantastic.
"I am thrilled to be in Rwanda, and this being the first cup of excellence competition in Africa and above all in Rwanda, it has been outstanding. All the coffee that was brought to the judges was perfect. It was not easy for them to select the winner," Ms. Spindler said.
She explained that forty CoEs have been held since the competition began, and she also urged farmers to always teach their neighbors on how to have the best coffee and what they have learnt from the competition.
President Paul Kagame thanked the organizers of the Cup of Excellence for bringing the competition to Rwanda, and promised to help farmers achieve their goals.
"I congratulate the winners of today who have scored 90% and I believe that next time you will score 100%. I also thank the growers and promise that we shall work hand in hand with the ministry of agriculture to see that your problems of water and energy at the washing stations are solved so that we upgrade and improve on the quality of coffee" Mr. Kagame remarked.
He added that the government decided to change from subsistence farming to modern farming because they wanted to increase the benefits for the growers, and also add value to their produce.
"We need to help the growers so that they progress, and when if they progress their families will also benefit," the President said. calling on the ministry of agriculture to continue advising and helping farmers get loans.
About the market, Mr. Kagame pointed out that growers should be the first to create a market by consuming coffee themselves.
Exemplary quality
Paul Songer, a private consultant who couples as a sensory analyst and who was the head of the panel of judges, explained that the standards used in judging the best cup included sample preparation, chain of custody, sampling procedures of lots of coffee, and compilation of scores.
"The 2007 Golden Cup Rwanda was therefore a good rehearsal for conducting a competition at the technical level necessary to identify and bring to auction Cup of Excellence quality coffee," Paul Songer said, adding that lots of exemplary quality was selected and auctioned, receiving both high scores and high prices.
He also congratulated the national cuppers, who he said are well trained. Most notable, Mr. Songer said, was the professionalism of the event. He highlighted the organization and sample preparation staff, and their hard work and willingness to adjust to the needs of the competition.
The cup of Excellence is the most esteemed award given out for the top coffees. These awards come from a strict competition that selects the very best coffee produced in that country for that particular year.
The winning coffees are chosen by a select group of national and international cuppers and are cupped at least five different times during the competition process.
Only coffees that continuously score high enough are allowed to move forward in the competition. The final winners are awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence and sold to the highest bidder during an internet auction.
Recognizing farmers
This year's CoE comes in a wake after last year's Golden Cup, the major purpose of which was to replicate the standards, protocols and progression of a CoE competition and determine if the competition could be held in this year.
The Cup of Excellence was started by a group of dedicated coffee connoisseurs who thought that a competition and auction was an effective way to recognize farmers monetarily for their hard work and effort.
In addition to this, the discovery of unknown and yet phenomenal coffees creates an excitement among roasters and consumers that is unparalleled.
As multiple coffee producing countries have joined the program, they are sharing beneficial information with each other and the supporting roaster have created a kind of Cup of Excellence family.
The CoE program builds the bridge between the high quality farmer, the high quality trade and eventually the consumer who finds coffees he truly loves and at the same time knows that the farmer has been well compensated.
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