El Salvador Cup of Excellence's: first auction breaks records.

Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, September, 2003

Set up as an open competition among coffee farms--with coffees scored on a 1--100 scale--the First El Salvador Cup of Excellence was a huge success, breaking records, and bringing quality coffee to roasters around the world.

The process involved an initial selection process by El Salvador's Coffee Board (Consejo Salvadoreno del Cafe) to reduce the total number of entrants from 336 to 50. These winning coffees were then set before an unbiased group of international coffee experts for a final week of cupping. The jury systematically tasted and evaluated the 50 entrants, to glean the handful of truly exemplary coffees judged to be the best from El Salvador this year.

The jury selected 31 coffees that achieved scores of 80.0 or above from this season's...