The Alliance For Coffee Excellence extends sincere Appreciation to its Cup of Excellence® Lifetime Members

These companies contributed $15,000 or more to join the Cup of Excellence family, offer their support and become Life Time Members with indefinite access to all of the Cup of Excellence program benefits.

Solberg & Hansen was founded in 1879 with a focus on selling top quality coffee. S&H imports, roasts, wholesales and retails some of the world’s finest coffees. Solberg & Hansen has been a supporter of Cup of Excellence since its inception in 1999 and has purchased a winning coffee in every single auction. It was the very first Lifetime Member. Per Storbakken, Jon Willason and Andreas Hertzberg have been members of the Cup of Excellence international jury. Trygve Klingenberg sits on the Cup of Excellence advisory panel as well as having been an honored speaker at the El Salvador 2003 awards ceremony.

Since 1948 Bontain Coffee has served excellent coffee to loyal customers. By constantly improving roasting methods, brewing techniques and always searching for the best quality coffee grown in each country customers of Bontain coffee are always satisfied. Yoshi Kato has been a member of the Cup of Excellence international jury and sits on its advisory panel.

Established in Copenhagen 1996 as a specialty coffee pioneer by the gastronomic entrepreneur Claus Meyer and the coffee and chocolate specialist Soren Sylvest, COE jury and ACE advisory board. After 10 years Estate Coffee Copenhagen still has the same focus – continuous search for the excellent coffees.

Recently the World Barista Champion 2006 Klaus Thomsen and his coach Legend Barista and Roastmaster Peter Dupont have joined the management team, today Estate Coffee Copenhagen is Barista driven quality at all levels.

Waratu & Co., Ltd was founded in 1947 by Mr. Wataru Nishibayashi and has provided reliable green coffee services and trading for many roaster in Japan. Wataru serves as a practical bridge between the roaster and the farmer. Wataru & Co.Ltd has been the biggest single company buyer of Cup of Excellence award winning coffee, Wataru & Co. is recognized as being a cooperating importer for the Cup of Excellence program having provided logistics and services to other Cup of Excellence buyers.

World Coffee focuses on serving superb quality coffee to our fully satisfied customers with strict consistency standards from the quality of the green coffee beans, the best roasting technology, proper grinding, packaging materials and brewing.

Good coffee depends on three key factors: The raw product, roasting and preparation. If just one of these factors should be unsatisfactory, the result is noticeable in the cup. That is why PROBAT constantly develops and manufacturers new, innovative roasting and plant technologies that are designed to get the best from every single coffee bean.

PROBAT has a wealth of expertise in this field, because the company has continuously developed from an important coffee roasting pioneer to international market leader. This cutting edge expertise is reflected in every one of their products, be it a roaster, grinder or a complete roasting plant.

Probat Werke GmbH Von Gimborn
Maschinenfabrik GmbH Reser Str,94 46446
Emmerich, Germany
49-2822-912-0
info@probat.com
www.probat.com

Founded in 1993 by father and son, Bill and Bill Swoope, The Coffee Tree Roasters started with one small in-store roaster and now boasts four retail locations in the Pittsburgh area.

Offering specialty coffees, pastries, coffee accessories, gift baskets and gift cards, patrons can sip their favorite coffee drink in a relaxing atmosphere or enjoy coffee on the go. Proud to serve coffee fresh from the tree and committed to fresh roasting, the Swoopes discard unused coffee after eight days.

Since 1999, Bill Swoope, Jr. has participated in 19 auctions and seven international juries including the first Brazil auction in 1999. He is also an active member of the Cup of Excellence advisory panel.

The Coffee Tree Roasters is proud to become the first United States coffee roaster named a Cup of Excellence Lifetime Member.

The Coffee Tree Roasters has four uniquely different retail locations in the Pittsburgh area; 5524 Walnut St. in Shadyside, 5840 Forbes Ave. in Squirrel Hill, 299 Beverly Rd. in the South Hills and 48 Fox Chapel Rd. in Fox Chapel.

Den Gyldne Bønne AS was founded in Oslo, Norway, in 1996 by Mr. Jørgen Lindvik. More than ten years later, the company regards itselves as an ambitious and modern importer, roaster and wholesaler with traditional values, aiming to combine true passion, innovation and excellent quality in the cup.

Founded in 1994 by Joe Hsu as a specialty coffee pioneer in Taiwan and offering specific traceability and good quality coffee around the world.

Orsir is the first company in Taiwan who customized roasted coffee and also has the first international jury from Taiwan! Teach and educate coffee brewing method lead customer into the spectacular flavours of specialty coffee!

Orsir Coffee is proud of being the first Cup of Excellence lifetime Member that from Taiwan and Chinese area.

"Cup of Excellence coffee is the good stuff. KAFFA loves the good stuff."

With the opening of our first store in 1975, Timothy's World Coffee is a pioneer in the North American specialty coffee industry. Customers who share our passion for fantastic coffee have helped us grow to more than 130 stores across Canada.

We source pure origin coffee from countries around the world that grow specialty grade Arabica beans. Only the top 5% of any harvest will meet our strict standards for quality.

Every bean is custom roasted in our own 35,000 sq. ft. roasting facility located in the Toronto region. Our Roast Master carefully watches over the roasting process, selecting profiles that highlight the unique attributes of each variety of coffee. Using those carefully selected profiles, our coffee experts have developed over 35 custom blends, flavoured coffees, and decaffeinated coffees.

To ensure you receive a perfect cup each and every time, all coffee beans are shipped fresh from our roaster and are brewed or sold within 20 days of roasting.

Mercanta The Coffee Hunters was established in 1996 and celebrated their tenth anniversary at the SCAE conference in Berne Switzerland in 2006. Mercanta set out to supply the growing ranks of specialty coffee roasting companies in Europe. By 2008, Mercanta counted some of the most discerning specialty coffee roasters in more than 25 countries worldwide amongst its customers, with more than 150 specialty coffee product lines in inventory in warehouses in the UK and USA.

Four of Mercanta's diverse staff are international Cup of Excellence jurors. Mercanta's founder, Stephen Hurst, has served on the Board of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) since 2002 and is also a past Chairman of this organisation. Mercanta has been buying Cup of Excellence coffees since the very first auction in Brazil in 1999.