Missoula MT. (February 23, 2005)- The specialty coffee farmers of the Huila growing region in Colombia had good reason to celebrate on Friday February 18th. Sixteen of the twenty-five awards given out at the first Cup of Excellence ceremony were presented to exemplary growers from this area. Ricaurte Hernández won the coveted first place with a fifteen-bag lot from his farm, Los Nogales. Just as the prize was announced a cell phone rang with congratulations from his daughter who had just heard the results on the nightly TV news broadcast.

Praise and hearty handshakes also went to the second place winner, Jose Eivar Moñoz with his exemplary lot from the Buena Vista farm who, along with Sr. Hernández, was the only other presidential award winner. The international jury gives out a presidential award only to those coffees that have received an average score above 90 points during the last day of cupping. There are few farms in any competition that ever receive this honor.

Rounding out the top five winners were Neftalí Fajardo Salazar from Cauca, José Ramón Collazos from Huila and Manuel Ulcue from little known Meta. Meta is a recently recognized quality coffee growing region in Colombia.

Sixty semi-finalist farmers, dignitaries, exporters, representatives of cooperatives, the press and both the national and international juries were on hand at the awards ceremony and the following party hosted by the Colombian Coffee Federation and arranged by the district of Caldas.

The three-week long national and international cuppings were held at Recintos del Pensmiento, a beautiful conference hotel high up in the mountains surrounding Manizales. “The beauty of Manizales coupled with the strong support from the Colombian national jury and the staff made this first cupping event memorable and will ensure that the second competition will be a huge success as well”, indicated Susie Spindler. Executive Director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Inc the owner of the competition- auction program. “ We are honored to be joining the Cup of Excellence family and look forward to the next competition in August”, said Roberto Velez, commercial Director for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.

This first Cup of Excellence competition to be held in Colombia focused primarily on the northern and central coffee-growing regions of the country. Since Colombia uniquely features two distinct harvest times, a second competition will take place in late August, to capture the best coffees from the later harvest and Colombia’s southernmost coffee-growing regions.

The national and international jury was led by one of the co-creators of the Cup of Excellence program. Silvio Leite, who has been involved with the Brazil program since 1999, shared his expertise as head judge for this first event in Colombia. Cup of Excellence is delighted that a great deal of its success is due to roasters, cuppers and coffee organizations from around the world all working together for a common purpose.

Samples of these winning coffees will be sent to registered companies or will be cupped again at regional events being schedule in Europe and the US. On March 31, 2005 all 25 winning coffees will be sold to the highest bidders during an internet auction held on the Cup of Excellence website.

This was the 16th Cup of Excellence competition to be held in Latin America. Other participating countries have enjoyed record average prices at auction for their winning coffee lots. For more information about the Colombian winning farmers, to register for 2005 Cup of Excellence membership, or to find a complete list of the 2004 winning coffees and their buyers log on to www.cupofexcellence.org.