Tag Archives: travel

Cup of Excellence, Colombia

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This year’s Cup of Excellence took place in city Neiva, south of Bogota, from 1- 5 of September. I landed there, departing from Bogota with Anviaca Air, it was enough to walk a few meters from airport tarmac to the baggage claim to feel the heat, like lava. Thankfully, Almacafe facilities, where all the cupping sessions were held, were excellent and fully air-conditioned!

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Cup of Excellence is one of the most prestigious coffee awards and is given to a special lot for its excellent quality.
Its purpose is to highlight outstanding coffees from special farms in their native countries.
Every single coffee awarded has been tested (on cupping) at least 5 times before winning.

 The procedure is fascinating but also hard, it needs a great deal of concentration to rate properly each coffee in the time given by the protocol. The aromas and taste characteristics change quickly, so total focus on every single cup is the key to be fair in evaluation. Knowledge and experience are taken for granted in order to be part of the international jury.

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 841 samples from the national Colombian produce were sent to be evaluated some week earlier. Only those that were rated with at least 84/100 after continuous evaluation passed to the next level. There are restrictions and a really strict protocol concerning the uniformity of the roasted beans, water temperature, the proportion of coffee and water such as the time of preparation. Only 59 samples passed to the semi- finals.

The international jury evaluated them with the minimum rate of 85/100. The samples that did not gather at least 85, won’t  participate in the auction, which will take place on 21st October 2014. Only 28 lots have made it finally.

Through this wonderful procedure I enjoyed more three lots, that I will try to overbid. Exotic taste profiles, they are very different from the usual character of Colombian coffee. You can find mint, eucalyptus, tropical fruits, molasses, black tea, malic acidity and really clear aftertaste, from what I can remember. I am going to wait for the samples and then I will organize an open cupping for the lovers of these unique coffees.

Timana Huila, Colombia

Posted on by under The Farms

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Timana is a small town in the south of Colombia, 446 km from Bogota, in Huila region. Huila  is very famous for the quality of its coffee. It was build by Spanish conquerors in 1538, and still keeps its historic character and atmosphere today.

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In this microregion there are approximately 2.000 coffee producers and every single field around the area reaches 1731 m. up to 1829 m. altitude, in Colombian Andes. The varieties that are cultivated there is Caturra, Castillo and Tabi  (a native typica).
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When Cup of Excellence was over, I left with Marco from Neiva heading to Timana. There Neftali, the manager of the station  where parchments are gathered, was waiting for us. Neftali’s house is 250 years old and it is called Casa del Abuelo. Before we leave to the farms, Neftali prepared some coffee to bring with us.
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He used a small jug, putting 780 ml of water and 36 gr. of grinded coffee 100% Colombian Caturra – Timana. He boiled the water  along with the coffee, exactly the same method we use in Greece to prepare our traditional beverage, ibrik coffee. Then he decanted the coffee into a thermos and carry it so we would have coffee for the rest of the day in the farms. This particular coffee reminded me the one made with the italian moka, though it had so intense acidity and medium body.
We named this coffee NEFCAFE (Neftali Cafe). It was so funny!

Finca la Esperanza, Guatemala

Posted on by under The Farms

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phonto (2)Aurelio is one of the 8 children of Heleodoro de Jesús Villatoro, founder of the Finca la Esperanza farm, winning often in the Cup of Excellence of Guatemala. One part of the farm, Villaure, is named after the surname and name of Aurelio Villatoro.

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In the farm there are lots in different altitude levels, and this is why produced coffee gives many different taste profiles. Aurellio is a capable producer with great experience, he has managed to seperate the lots and give each one a unique name/ code. When I visited Huehuetenango, Ι was Aurelio’s guest at the farm. In the afternoon, we wanted to have a cup of coffee, so he went to the warehouse and brought a small amount of beans of Campamento Alto, still kept in their parchement, as farmers do until coffee goes for processing. We roast it in a rather atypical way, using a pop corn maker!

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I enjoyed this coffee next morning in Aurelio’s balcony, around 5.00 a.m when Finca la Esperanza wakes up and the day at the farm begins. I surely was well disposed by the atmosphere, but frankly it was a great coffee. I prepared it on hand brew, using a hario V60 and 15 gr of coffee for 300 ml of water.

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The next day in a cupping table in Huehuetenango, in a blind taste test, I rated highly a sample that corresponded to Campamento Alto!!!