There’s the idea that a competition brings forth the best coffee for appraisal and celebration. Yeah … maybe.
I do believe El SalvadorEl Salvador coffee had an undeservingly poor reputation for years, marred mostly by the inability to deliver coffee of high quality in an unstable political climate. Unfortunately, agriculture... is my favorite Cup of ExcellenceThe Cup of Excellence is a competition held yearly in many coffee-producing countries, designed to highlight the very best coffees from each origin.: The Cup of Excellence (COE)... competition. I like to be on the jury here. The coffees are really good, in a basic/good kind of way. The BourbonA coffee cultivar; a cross between Typica and Bourbon, originally grown in Brazil: Mundo Novo is a commercial coffee cultivar; a natural hybrid between "Sumatra" and Red Bourbon,... varietyA botanical variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the rank of species and subspecies and above the rank of form (form / variety / subspecies... coffees aren’t flashy … just really solid good drinkin’ types.
And then these more exotic, slightly wild PacamaraAs the name implies, Pacamara is a large bean cultivar, a cross between Pacas and Maragogype with unique flavor properties. This variant originated in El Salvador in 1958,... cultivars …so there is always a surprise or two or three on each table. The question is how to negotiate between the two. And what “better” and “Excellent” is supposed to mean. Is the best cup one people really like to drink in the morning? Or something unusual, but not attractive as a go-to daily coffee? Hmmm…
Here’s a few pictures from the El Salvador Cup of Excellence Competition 2009
We went to a coffee farm, to see real coffee trees. A Pacamara. Finca El Retiro. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, My favorite feature – dressed-up cinder blocks. And activity sandals!. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Ah … another early morning arrival in El Salvador. I hate TACA. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Typical El Salvador farm setting. Finca El Retiro. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, The jurado de jueces internacional. Woo!. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, El Duke, at the Cipres Mill. He’s a sweet guy. Someone cut him with a machete. Ugh.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, La Majada cooperative mill – lots of pulpers.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Another late dinner, but with pupusa galore!. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Wood for burning at the mill. This is cleared from shade trees at farms.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, El Zorro de Sonsonate. Marie dnaced with the Zorro. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Marimba until you drop.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, This guy can boogie! Zorro means “fox”. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, El Zorro does his crazy thing.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Marie of Portland Roasting – not afraid to dance.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, 73 years old, nothing stops the fox!. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Vytautus is the most rad Lithuanian. . El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Keishin. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Most meat eaten on a jury, ever. Jason. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Takashi from World Coffee. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Paul Songer, head judge …. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Jorge Escobar. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Jan, a coffee xpert. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Yoshi of Itoya Coffee. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Synove is not a math function.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Anette of Square Mile. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Inoue of Wataru. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Bob from New Orleans. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Yoshi Kato, Bontain . El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Paol Transcends. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Hishashi from Unir Coffeee – we went to Peru together too.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Noah. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Chris Davidson. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Crazy barefoot Christian. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Jorge Acuna – statistically we were calibrated in cupping.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Other Christian, Mercanta. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Well, had to have one of me too.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Jorge and Jorge. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Cup cleaning. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Cups in the sunlight. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, color.. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, spillage. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009, Christian Rotsko. El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2009,