Alliance for Coffee Excellence announces private collection auction

The Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) has announced the launch of its Private Collection auction to showcase Yemen’s high-quality smallholder famers.

ACE will launch the auction in long-term partnership with the United Kingdom-based Qima Coffee, which focuses on farmer-identified nano-lots from Yemen.

Qima works directly with smallholder farmers across central and northern Yemen, creating equitable trade in cultivating and hand harvesting specialty coffee sourced from some of Yemen’s highest altitudes.

Founded in 2016 by Faris Sheibani, Qima’s purpose is to rebuild Yemen’s specialty coffee industry. Qima has pledged to donate 10 per cent of its annual profits to education and agricultural projects through its Qima Foundation.

“Qima Coffee’s partnership with ACE marks a momentous milestone in Yemen’s specialty coffee industry,” Sheibani says.

“Sourcing coffees from thousands of smallholder farmers across the country, including many previously untouched regions, we are excited to offer the widest and finest range of coffees ever to have left Yemen’s shores.”

ACE and Qima Coffee will work together on cupping through nearly 500 micro-lots in order to find the highest scoring producers. ACE will assemble a jury of professional sensory tasters to analyse lots at its Portland, Oregon laboratory.

Only the highest scoring lots above 85 will be auctioned off ACE’s online platform.

ACE says by pinpointing exceptional producers with this program, it will curate auctions with organisations and farmers who best exemplify ACE’s standards with its Cup of Excellence programming and hopes to expand its reach with these curated auctions.

“Our hope is to partner with farmers and other producers through this new program outside of our Cup of Excellence National Winners auctions and the work that Qima Coffee is conducting is a great match,” Executive Director Darrin Daniel says.

Lots will be directly exported from the UK and will be as small as 50 kilograms. Each lot will be from individual small holders with information about the producer, their farm and lot processing.

ACE plans for the auction to go live in July.

For more information, contact support@cupofexcellence.org