For Immediate Release:

March 9, 2005, San Pedro Sula, Honduras -- For the second year in a row, coffee growers from every corner of Honduras will have the opportunity to show the world the quality of their coffee and earn higher prices when the 2005 Cup of Excellence® quality coffee competition opens today. Coffee samples will be accepted from March 9 - April 15; during this pre-screening phase, regional competitions will be held to determine which producers will represent each district.

Previously held in Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia, and Colombia, the Cup of Excellence® is a country-wide tasting event that is designed to identify, promote and earn higher prices for the host country's best coffees. Open to growers from all regions and farms producing at least 40 quintals (4,000 lbs) of coffee, the competition will determine winners based on coffee sample evaluations -- called blind "cuppings" -- conducted by national and international judges that examine every detail, from acidity and aroma to body and flavor. The 2005 Cup® in Honduras is being organized by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) with support from TechnoServe and other local and international organizations and corporations.

"At TechnoServe we know from experience that increasing the quality of coffee produced and helping those growers to make direct connections with specialty buyers will help lift coffee-growing communities out of poverty," said Manuel Lugo, TechnoServe's Country Director in Honduras. "The higher prices that growers are paid for their higher-quality coffee will enable some of them to hire more workers and some others to re-invest in their farms, send their children to school, and generally benefiting their communities. The Cup of Excellence® is a wonderful mechanism for drawing the coffee world's attention to the high-quality coffee that Honduras can produce, for rewarding growers who are committed to quality, and for encouraging other growers to strive for high standards."

The final date for Honduran growers to submit samples is April 15th. Then, during the Cup of Excellence® pre-selection process from April 18-22, the first round of samples will be "cupped" in preparation for the national jury. The first-round winners will then be evaluated by national judges during April 25-30. During the final phase, from May 2-6, an international jury of experts will evaluate the remaining samples, and the best coffees will be chosen to receive the Cup of Excellence® prize in a separate awards ceremony. An Internet auction will be held on June 9, when international importers and specialty coffee roasters will bid on the competition's winning coffees.

"The Cup of Excellence® is a first-class, international event that discovers the best coffee in the region and improves our country's image at the global level," said Carlos Umanzor, IHCAFE's Commercial Manager and coordinator of the Cup of Excellence® in Honduras. "Honduras has been known for many years as a country that produces large volumes of coffee, but thanks to the Cup of Excellence®, we're letting the whole world know that the quality of our coffee is also very good. For the 2005 Cup® competition, we hope to have more participants, discover more producers and regions, and confirm that Honduras indeed possesses quality coffee. With the Cup of Excellence®, the producer ceases being anonymous, as the buyer learns the region where the coffee comes from, the producer's name, number of members of his or her family, and other information that permits the buyer to create a long-term business relationship with that producer. I am hopeful that this year's Internet auction prices will increase dramatically compared to the prices received last year."

Hulda Saavedra of IHCAFE's Marketing and Promotion Department stated, "This competition is very important in our country, since it is considered an international promotion tool that allows small producers to become more competitive, access better prices and market links, and establish long-term relationships with buyers."

In an effort to top last year's quality record, strict guidelines have been imposed for the Honduras competition. Coffee samples must be 100% free of any impurities. All cupping locations must have good ventilation and be free of extraneous scents, with samples placed a specific distance apart, to name a few. Coffee sample evaluators must have at least five years of experience, and be familiar with both specialty coffee and specialty markets.

During the country's first Cup® competition in July 2004, 286 out of 800 samples submitted were accepted into the program, from which 21 were eventually chosen as finalists. The grand prize was awarded to small-scale grower Gregorio Martínez for his Arabica coffee, which received the highest score of 95.69 points. (Each of the winning coffees received a score of 84.1 points or more; the top three samples surpassed 90.8.) At the Internet auction that followed, Gregorio set a 2004 price-per-pound Cup of Excellence® record: his entire coffee lot, 1,500 pounds of beans, fetched $13/pound for a total of $19,500. The average price paid was $4.96/pound, and all 21 lots of coffee offered were sold to buyers who paid a total of $168,903 for 34,800 pounds of the best beans in Honduras.

The Cup of Excellence® was created by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and is being organized by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) in 2005. Sponsors of this year's Cup of Excellence® include: TechnoServe, ADECAFEH, Asociación Hondureña de Cafés Especiales, BANHCAFE, BECAMO, Bon Café, S.A., Chemonics, COEX, COHONDUCAFE, Cooperación Española, Federal Express, FIDE, Fintrac, Fondo Cafetero Nacional, Hotel Real Intercontinental, Molinos de Honduras S.A. de C.V., PROBAT and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

TechnoServe assisted IHCAFE in 2004 with the organization, promotion, logistics and general management of Honduras' first Cup of Excellence® competition. TechnoServe has also co-organized and co-sponsored Cup® competitions in Nicaragua (since 2002) and El Salvador (since 2003).