2009 Bolivia Cup of Excellence

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The national jury in Bolivia has been whittling down the samples submitted. According to head judge, Sherri Johns, "the word spectacular came up - perfume, brilliant acidity, lush chocolate, juicy, clarity, jasmine, to name a few... there is a full range of possibilities here." Anticipation is high as judges from all over board planes for the long journey to La Paz.

From there, we travel down, down, down El Camino de la Muerte to Coroico for a week of cupping, meeting producers, serious recreation and most dangerous road biking. Wish us luck.

If you're intersted, here's a video that was produced at last year's competition in Boliva: decent documentary of the program, the jury and, most importantly, the farmers' stories.

http://vimeo.com/3749632

How will it all play out this year?

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Here's how it all played out...

Of course, the whole story is not wholly mine and is far from over. But from my perspective, this event was a gathering of amazing people who thoroughly enjoyed the experience of getting to know Bolivia - its coffee and its people.

The national jury passed on 58 coffees from the week before that they deemed to be representative of their country's best. Round one spanned two days and the cupping room with a panoramic view of the Yungas' can't-take-it-all-in mountains and valley was the perfect setting to take in these beautiful coffees. 37 samples made it to round 2 and Thursday was an intense session of introspection. Friday's cupping of the top ten left people shaking their heads in disbelief and delight at the beauty on the table. The jury selected 30 lots as Bolivia's Cup of Excellence: 84+ and awarded 7 as Presidential: 90+.

While the numbers are interesting, they still don't come close to capturing the narrative of the collective experience. So here's where some pictures are worth a few words:

I posted some images for those of you who are fb fans.
Jared Rennie of Noble Coffee Roasting put some pics up here.
And Oliver Stormshak shares his story over here.

Samples are en route to registered members right now and the auction is Nov 19th.

[andynewbom]

AWESOME coffees so far! we cupped the first 20 and the last ten we cup tomorrow but so far the coffees are superb! can't wait to get some sweet Bolivian coffee!

[andynewbom]

Absolutely one of the best COE selections we have tasted in over five years of cupping them. Great job to the farmers! We will be bidding on some stellar coffees tomorrow.