Niguse Gemeda Mude has won the first Cup of Excellence (COE) Ethiopia with his Sidama sun-dried natural coffee, which scored 91.04 in the competition.
This was one of three coffees to score more than 90 points in the competition, each receiving the Presidential Award. Rumudamo Coffee Industry Trade scored 90.89 and RumuDamo scored 90.25 with 74110 varietal washed coffees, both from Sidamo.
COE organisers the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, with USAID’s Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity, announced the top 28 winning coffees from the competition. These COE winning coffees will be sold in an online auction on 25 June.
“It’s exciting to know my coffee has made it this far. Becoming number one was what I was aiming for. I am very happy to promote our great coffee and to benefit from the market opportunities that will follow the result” Niguse says. “It’s an honour to receive the special recognition. This encourages me to do more.”
Dr. Adugna Debela, Director General of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, says the success of the competition is a result of the commitment by the organising team and participating producers.
“The decision was made to move forward with the competition by adjusting to the new realities created by COVID-19. We had to move location, changing the original plan to conduct the competition in Ethiopia, and send the sample of each coffee to the jury. This has paid off with a successful completion of the competition, which will benefit the producers and the country as a whole,” Adugna says.
“I would like to congratulate all the winners, and the organising team who worked very hard to make the competition a success.”
Ato Getinet Ameha, Senior Agricultural Management Specialist at USAID says the competition and result is an important step to promote the best of Ethiopian coffee worldwide.
“I would like to congratulate all the winners who have done an incredible job by entering the best quality coffee. We at USAID are pleased to support Cup of Excellence because it will benefit growers and the country,” Ato says.
The ACE says international buyers are also excited to be involved in the June online auction with more than 134 already registered.
“The competition has been exciting and broke several records including the highest number of entries and highest number of buyers registered for the auction. Congratulations to all the winners,” says Darrin Daniel, Executive Director of the ACE.
For more information, visit www.allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/ethiopia-2020