First Ever International Competition for Ehthiopian Cooperative Coffees Underway

The 1st annual ECAFE Gold Cooperative Coffee Competition of Ethiopia is officially underway in Addis Ababa. Out of 194 coffee samples originally entered by Ethiopia’s four largest coffee-growing cooperative unions, 96 were selected in late January to compete for top honors in this country’s first ever international cupping competition. At a calibration session yesterday, Abraham Begashaw, Director of Ethiopia’s Central Liquoring Lab, and ECAFE President Willem Boot welcomed 15 distinguished international judges from the United States, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and France. Joining the International Panel are three Ethiopian judges from the Central Liquoring Lab who participated in preselection. Together they will be responsible for awarding first, second, and third prizes in ten categories following four days of intensive cupping.

“For the first time ever, farmers at the coop level who produce Ethiopia’s most exemplary coffees will receive recognition for their efforts,” said Mr. Boot. As an indication of the high caliber of coffees being cupped, Ethiopian officials reintroduced the Specialty Grade 1 level of coffee quality. “The 44 washed and 52 unwashed coffees competing for recognition represent an unprecedented level of coffee quality” said Mr. Begashaw.

Cooperative farm managers representing beans from Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu, Jimma, and Kaffa Forest Coffee, along with officials from competition sponsor ACDI/VOCA and USAID greeted participants at a reception held last night. “The 192 samples submitted reflect the efforts of 150 co-op’s and nearly 180,000 farming families or close to 1 million Ethiopian people” said ACDI/VOCA Director, Mr. Jim Dempsey. Mr. Werqu Mekasha, also of VOCA-Ethiopia added that “by rewarding the production of best quality coffees we send a strong message to growers that quality pays.”

Ethiopia is widely recognized as the birthplace of coffee and stands almost alone as a producing country for its rich coffee culture. At the center is the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a tradition of appreciation extending nearly 800 years and enjoyed daily by much of the population. Interestingly, nearly one half of Ethiopia’s coffee crop is consumed internally. When Mr. Boot originally proposed the idea of a country-wide coffee competition, he simultaneously expressed some caution of co-op managers, saying that there was no guarantee of success. They responded with typical Ethiopian optimism: “Chigger yellum (no problem), if it doesn’t sell we will gladly drink it ourselves.”

The ECAFE Gold award ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 26th and will be covered by reporters from all of the major Ethiopian press as well as National Public Radio’s largest American affiliate, WNYC of New York. An electronic auction of the winning coffees is scheduled for May 10th following the SCAA conference in Seattle.

For more information or to pre-register to bid on ECAFE Gold winning coffees, please send an email to: info@ecafefoundation.org or visit the website at www.ecafefoundation.org