After a few days of cupping, scrupulous selection and evaluation, the winner of the Best of Panama competition for 2018 was selected.

The annual edition of Best of Panama was held in Valle Escondido Resort & Spa and ran from 22 to 26 May. The event hosted more than 15 local judges, 18 international judges from the USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, EUA and Japan and over 25 international guest testers from Asia, the United State, and Europe. We are also proud of our founder, Jordan Dabov, who was the only European to be invited as a judge for the last few years! They all confirm that the Geisha variety has the best and most deserved reputation in Panama.

On Best of Panama, a new record was scored by the washed Geisha

The washed Geisha scored a record result this year – 94.38 points out of a maximum of 100! This is a historic record since the highest rating so far is 94.11. It is for this reason that the question arises whether a maximum score of 100 points can be reached? “It would be great, but it would also mean that there would be no better coffee,” said Wilford Lamastus, President of the Specialty Coffee Association in Panama.

Will last year’s highest score on Best of Panama be reached in 2018?

For comparison, natural Geisha received 93.63 points, which is 0.48 less than its personal record from previous years of 94.11 points. Last year, the winner coffee was sold for $ 601 per pound at an online auction. Five years earlier, the price for the winner was $ 350.25. These differences not only show the quality of coffee but also help local development and gradual improvement in production. One can only guess how much the buyers will be willing to pay on this year’s online auction.

“Our costs are very high compared to the rest of Latin America. Only if we remain in the special category, this branch of coffee can provide better returns to the country,” appreciates producer Ricardo Koiner, manager of Kotowa.

Koiner supports his assessments of climate challenges, and Lamastus adds the impossible competition in volume with other exporting countries.

The weather this time led to the farms to have low production rates. “In many regions, 50% of the capacity was produced; in others, only 20%, “recalls Koiner.

In terms of volume, Lamastus takes Colombia as an example. The South American country sends abroad a minimum of 11 million bags per year. The special category of the Chiriqui highlands allows the harvest of some 200,000 bags, of which an average of 50,000 are sold in other markets.

For these and other organoleptic reasons, that is, texture, color, aroma, flavor and acidity, according to Bermúdez, the 50,000 bags of Panamanian special coffee captivate the public that seeks the most exalted grain.

Since last Wednesday they participated in the tastings of the coffee varieties produced in the highlands, where the pacamara, traditional, natural and geisha varieties are worked in their different modalities.

They are the cream of the coffee industry. “The buyers come, savor and negotiate quantities of 80 or 100 bags with the producers,” says Lamastus.

Others wait until the July auctions to compete for the most exquisite pounds of coffee in the world. Last year a buyer paid $ 601 for a pound of Geisha from Best of Panama. This year, experts now consider, that record can be broken.

Stay tuned for more info from the world of Specialty Coffee!

We are thrilled to share with you that one of the most significant events in the world of Specialty Coffee is currently underway – Best of Panama 2018!

Founded in 1996 by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP), the competition is now held for a 22 time! This event gives the world the opportunity to get closer to some of the most exclusive cafes such as Geisha for example! Thanks to SCAP’s members who have developed and established cultivation systems and processing methods that aim to create an outstanding product: „Our coffees have been ranked by experts as some of the best in the world in many international competitions, and our production is highly prized by the most demanding and discerning in the industry. We strive to promote a culture that is friendly with the environment: We understand that our water sources, forests, and wildlife are not only a key part of the success and uniqueness of our coffees, but also the most important asset to our communities,” said the locals.

Currently, SCAP has more than 50 active members that export its varieties of Specialty Coffees around the world and that are winners of prizes and recognition in different international taste competitions.

Also, the best of Panama represents the opportunity for local estates to promote the quality of their harvests, as this competition is overseen and judged by national and international experts in the specialty coffee industry. „For us coffee growers, the Best of Panama is a very important event, as it continuously raises the bar for the quality we strive to offer in our product,” said the producers.

This year, Best of Panama 2018 will take place in Valle Escondido Resort & Spa on May 22-26th. The event will host more than 15 preliminary local judges, 18 international judges from USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, EUA and Japan and more than 25 International Guest Cuppers from Asia, USA, and Europe.

We are so proud to announce that our coffee hunter Jordan Dаbov was invited to be a part of the international jury in Best Of Panama. This honour is granted to cuppers from USA, Asia and Australia with high experience in cupping quality coffees. For years a European judge has not been a part of this event.

Follow us for more up-to-date information about the event and the results!

Small and medium coffee producers were the big winners in the Oro de Santa Barbara competition, with several of them selling their coffee at a thousand dollars per quintal dry parchment.

For four days, 25 international judges of eleven nationalities tasted 60 lots of coffee that had pre-qualified to participate in the competition, choosing the ten best aromatics from the land of the reed.

The grain grown in San José Colinas, became the Oro de Santa Bárbara coffee, reached a rating of 90.97 from the Pacayalito farm, Los Naranjos village owned by producer Miguel Ángel Tábora.

The second place was obtained by the grain produced in the Las Flores village, by the coffee grower Balbina Sabillón, who achieved a score of 89.65%, while the third place fell on the Cacaulapa farm, located in the village La Alianza, in the municipality of San José de Colinas, owned by Merlyn Paz with 89.43%.

Who received the best price at Oro de Santa Barbara?

But who took the best price and became the surprise of the competition was the sample of coffee maker Nery Rolando Muñoz Fernández, San Luis Planes, who despite having been in fourth place managed to get his grain to buy 15.25 dollars per pound.

It should be noted that the average purchase price per pound of dry parchment coffee in the national market is around 16 lempiras per pound and 1,600 lempiras per quintal.

Nery Muñoz became the leading producer of the competition by getting his grain auctioned at almost one thousand dollars per quintal, one thousand four hundred percent more than the normal market sale price.

The closing events of the event were headed by the designated Ricardo Álvarez, who stressed the importance of the small and medium producer selling their coffees directly, without intermediaries and at unthinkable prices for them.

“Who would have thought that a coffee farmer with less than an apple, disabled and about to go blind, has managed to get his grain to buy it at a thousand dollars a quintal, a thousand times more than its price in relation to the value of the local market, that’s what it’s about, to support people like Nery so that they have the necessary profitability to ensure a better life, “he said.

To reach the three finalists, the international tasters selected 10 coffees, among them, the grain that is harvested in the farms Guacamaya, El Milagro, La Bendición, Noriega, Las Flores, San Ramón and Buena Vista.

Oro Santa Barbara was promoted by the government through the presidential appointee Ricardo Álvarez, the mayor’s office through its owner, the lawyer Fátima Juárez, the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Santa Bárbara, the Country Brand and the Secretariat of Economic Development, all under the vision that small and medium producers could compete directly and obtain better prices for the grain.

An international jury for the first time comes to Honduras to choose and buy Specialty coffee

The international tasters participating in the competition came from different countries, including Germany, Canada, Japan, China, Holland, Russia, Korea, Singapore, the United States and Bulgaria, all of whom were summoned by the well-known judges Sherri Jhons and Ez Yon, who since early April they were in Santa Bárbara to pre-select the aromatic they tasted in the competition.

During their stay in Santa Barbara land, the tasters visited different farms where they could roast coffee in an artisanal way and verify the production process in situ.

After choosing the first three places of the competition, all the coffees participated in the auction and according to the quality of the grain, they achieved prices between 6 and 15 dollars per pound.

“That was the idea, that the small producer could sell without intermediaries since these remain with the highest percentage and producers end up losing, they are the ones who have made a large investment in their farms to achieve a successful production,” he said. the presidential designee.

It is noteworthy that it is the first time in the history of Honduran coffee that 25 judges of eleven nationalities come to the country to choose and buy the best coffee in a department.

“The judges have assured me that next year they will participate again in Oro de Santa Bárbara and that they are willing to replicate this experience in other departments of the country” concluded Álvarez.

The department of Santa Barbara registers about 16 thousand coffee growers, those who harvest ten percent of the national production, about one million bags among the municipalities with the highest production are, Atima, San Nicolás, Colinas and also the Santa Bárbara mountain.

During the harvest period, the coffee sector generates one million direct and indirect jobs, represents the second source of foreign currency, after remittances, it benefits about 20% of the Honduran population that directly or indirectly depends on the crop.

Source:

http://www.latribuna.hn/2018/04/29/pequenos-productores-logran-precio-record-competencia-cafe-oro-santa-barbara/

Oro de Santa Barbara supports small and medium-sized producers

We are so happy to announce that we already have the results of Cup Of Excellence Nicaragua 2018. 

Our coffee hunter and founder, Jordan Dabov, who was part of the jury in the contest of Cup of Excellence Nicaragua 2018, shared with us the important information on the phone.

Here is this year’s Top 20:

Jordan Dabov, who once again was part of jury of an important Specialty Coffee event, shared with us on the phone: “These four days were full of so many amazing and exciting coffees to taste! We are thankful to all the Nicaragua’s farmers for the great work and investment of energy they made in planting these tasteful coffees. We’ve tasted some unique lots and I really hope our participation here is motivating the farmers to continue growing.”