Hey everybody, Daniel here! I had the opportunity to visit Colombia at the end of September to help judge the Colombia Best Cup competiton. The competition is put on annually by US-based Cafe Imports and Banexport, an incredible Colombian specialty coffee exporter. A group of roasters, importers, and baristas gather to spend almost a week tasting & scoring coffee, and it culminates in a live auction of the top scoring coffees.
The purpose of the competition is to highlight the hard work of the producers and get them more money for their quality coffee! An incredible amount of work goes into this, and it’s honestly an honor to see it first-hand. It is incredible to see the impact this competition has on people’s lives, and it truly speaks to the passion and care that CI & Banexport have for the coffee producing partners they work with.
Through this competition, I was able to book a few coffees that are just coming in, so keep your eyes open!
The first two we’re rolling out are from Top 15 producer Luis Alfonso Chocue Mensa (SO good!), and a Gesha variety from FUDAM, a group of smallholder farms who continue to produce excellent coffee!
Credit to MAFLA Photo for most of these pictures!
Over the week, we tasted & discussed coffees, visited farms & mills, and learned a TON about coffee production.
We had a dinner with the top 30 producers, and everybody got up to say hi and give a little speech. It was so fun to hear from and to meet so many passionate people! I got to meet Maria Calpa, whose micro-lot we purchased in last year’s Best Cup auction (one of my favorite coffees from the last year). We were able to buy more of her coffee this year as well, and we’re very excited to get that on the shelf! She and her family put in a ton of work to produce an amazing coffee, and it was a wonderful experience to thank her in person. Keep your eyes open for Finca El Ajisito, I think you’ll love it.
The live auction was intense! It’s hard to describe the experience, but it was a wild emotional ride for sure. High energy, both competitive & supportive, and a very unique experience to share with an amazing group of people.
In short, it was epic, the coffee was great, and I have a lot of new friends because of it!