The Cup of Excellence is an annual competition held in several countries to identify the highest quality coffees produced. The Cup of Excellence has worked to fundamentally change the high quality coffee industry and has supported advances in farming and premiums to farmers that would have been impossible without it.
Cup of Excellence is the most prestigious coffee competition and award for high quality coffees. The level of scrutiny that Cup of Excellence coffees undergo is unmatched anywhere in the specialty coffee industry.
The concept was developed by the Gourmet Coffee Project of the International Coffee Organization (ICO). This project was devised by Pablo Dubois, Head of Operations of the ICO and Frans Bolvenkel, of the International Trade Centre (ITC) at a meeting in Geneva in late 1994.
Key figures in the ICO, including Marcelo Vieira (Brazil Specialty Coffee Association), Susan Spindler (Association of Coffee Excellence), Hidetaka Hayashi, Silvio Leite, Don Holly and George Howell spearheaded this effort. They created the first Cup of Excellence competition. They also launched an online auction that sold winning coffees to the highest bidder.
Competition Structure and Judging Process
Each Cup of Excellence competition consists of 6 separate scoring rounds. The in-country national jury scores the first 3 rounds. The international jury scores the final 3.
Scoring coffees multiple times by up to 35 different judges guarantees only the best coffees are given the final award for that year. All of the judges are selected by the Cup of Excellence program staff including the head judge who is in charge of the competition process.
Two skilled and highly experienced juries score the samples during the competition. The National Jury is made up of experienced professional cuppers from the country of origin. This jury cups all coffees entered at Pre-Selection and all those, which then advance to the National Jury week The International Jury members are importer, buy ers and other skilled coffee cuppers from consuming countries. International judges are required to be professionals with years of experience. They are selected for each country based on experience and the geographic area they represent. They volunteer their time, pay for their travel and come from multiple countries.
Each sample entering the competition process is assigned a number known only to the auditor for each competition, and each jury member cups the coffee blind. In addition, each lot is documented through the entire process so that winning coffees are traceable to the farm and exact micro-lot.
For Ethiopia, the days were spent cupping through 4 separate rounds or tables, each with 40 cups per round or table. If one does the math, they soon realize that Cup of Excellence winning coffees are some of – if not the most – vetted coffees in the world. Each coffee is placed 4 times per round, with generally 7-8 tables per round to accommodate all the judges. That means that during the International Phase, a winning coffee will be cupped at least 256 times, and if the coffee makes it into the Top 10, then it will have been cupped 384 times!
Scoring System and Quality Standards
The format used in the Cup of Excellence® is a numbering system scoring eight elements, each on a scale of 1-8, with 8 being the best. Those eight scores are added together, and 36 points are then added to reach the total (maximum of 100).
All coffees must score a minimum of 87 points in the final round to win a Cup of Excellence award. For comparison – the Specialty Coffee Association defines a specialty coffee as receiving a minimum quality score of 80 points. Cup of Excellence coffees are the top tear of all specialty coffees, with a 90 point score being extremely rare.
All coffees must score 86+ points from a possible 100 to advance to the next phase of the competition. This 86+ score will be required to move from pre-selection to the national week and the national week to the international week. The top 30 coffees advance to the Cup of Excellence auction, if the coffee scores an 87+.
CoE scoring tends to be more conservative, particularly at the upper end. A 90+ CoE score is vanishingly rare – the coffee equivalent of a perfect game of darts. You can find SCA 90+ scores on coffee bags fairly regularly; CoE 90+ means you’re holding something genuinely historic.
The evaluation criteria include fragrance/aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, sweetness, clean cup, and uniformity. Samples with major defects are eliminated immediately. The rigorous sample preparation protocols ensure that cuppers score only the quality in the cup – the influence of external variables such as roast, grind, dose, temperature and water quality are minimized.
Competition Rounds and Elimination Process
Every sample entered into the competition is cupped once by the National Jury. All samples that score 86 or over advance to the next stage (maximum 150 samples). Farmers must now move the entire lot to a bonded warehouse under the control of an independent auditing company.
The National Jury cups those samples that advanced from Pre-Selection. All those that again score 86 or over advance to the next round (maximum 90 samples).
These samples are cupped again and all those that again score at least 86 points remain in the competition (up to a maximum of 40 samples).
The following week, the International jurors/cuppers assemble to cup all those samples passed forward from the National Jury week. Up to a maximum of 30 samples that have scored over 87 points are then cupped in a second round to select those that will finally be awarded Cup of Excellence and progress to the online auction.
On the final day of the International Jury, the top ten highest scoring samples are cupped one final time to give them special attention, to determine the final score and ranking. Winning Farmers are announced at a large awards ceremony.
Certificates are awarded to all winning farmers and special recognition is given to those samples that score over 90 points and which are given a Presidential Award.
Global Auction System and Economic Impact
The final winners are awarded the Cup of Excellence and sold via an internet auction to the highest bidder. The purpose of the auctions are for farmers to receive increased premiums for their exemplary coffees and to set transparency in pricing.
Approximately 70-75% of the auction proceeds go to the farmers. The rest will be used to cover the costs of the competition, such as storage of the coffees, transportation and costs of the competition itself.
Angelino’s, a Los Angeles specialty coffee roaster placed the final bid of $445.00lb for # 1a breaking the 2022 record of $400.50lb. The auction lasted almost 9 hours and resulted in an average price of well over $24lb for all 29 lots. This 2024 Ethiopian auction record demonstrates the premium prices these competitions generate. Since the first Cup of Excellence auction was held, individual country auctions have seen producers and farms reach record prices well above US$180 per pound, and tiny producing regions gain overnight world-wide fame.
As of 2018, COE has raised over $60,000,000 USD for coffees farmers in 12 countries incentivizing and motivating farmers knowing there can be a recognition and financial reward for their hard work and effort.
Triumphant beans get sold via online auctions to the global specialty trade, often for prices exceeding commodity values by 500% or more. CoE success thereby delivers life-changing income.
Global Expansion and Current Operations
As of 2020, competitions are held in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Burundi, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Rwanda.
Since 2000, it has showcased some of the best and rarest coffees in the world. As of 2002, the management of the competition fell under the non-profit ACE, operating out of Portland, Oregon from 2015, and Houston, Texas as of 2024.
The Cup of Excellence program is designed to allow every farmer in the country to submit one sample at no cost. It is one of the few competitions that has a level playing field and strives to promote equal access and success for all farmers regardless of size or financial status.
Cup of excellence partners with a coffee organization in each country. These In-country partners (ICPs) coordinate all on-the-ground aspects of their program including farmer communication, competition set-up, awards ceremony and hospitality of the juries. Staff for Cup of Excellence set the rules, test and select the juries and hire the head judges.
The competition continues to evolve, with In 2025, Cup of Excellence announced they would be switching from the online auction provider M-Cultivo to V-Auction. This system has fundamentally transformed how exceptional coffee is identified, valued, and traded in the global specialty coffee market, creating direct connections between farmers and roasters while ensuring transparent pricing for quality.