2006 Honduras Cup of Excellence

[Mark Prince]

The Honduran CoE auction looks over:

http://www.cupofexcellence.org/CountryP ... fault.aspx

Interesting price scope - the high this time went to 8th place in the cupping, at $7.95 a lb. Top coffee went for $6.70 a lb. Maybe a bag volume issue.

Last year's top went for $17.60 to Maruyama, and scored only about a point higher.

Mark

[James Hoffmann]

I cupped a few of these last week. Some interesting lots outside of the top 10. However there was nothing there that was gonna make you reach for the blank cheque, just lots of really good coffee.

[tim]

I have to say that the quality of the lots this year was not as good as I remembered from last years COE.
However there were a few really interesting lots there and generally the Honduran coffee is super sweet and some features many intreaguing flavours of tropical fruit.
I found some strange coffees among the 17 I cupped today though. One tasted like it was past crop, another was moldy and a third just awfully woody.
I wonder how they ended up in the C.O.E. finals...

Did anybody else experience the same ?

[James Hoffmann]

There was one in the top 10 I cupped that I really, really disliked - woody, dirty, just all wrong.

Can't remember its positioning though (might have been 10th?)

[tim]

I don't remember the number, but I know one of the worst was among top 10. So I guess we disliked the same coffee.

[Peter G]

The #8 coffee is a spectacular coffee. (disclosure: I am one of the buyers)

Marysabel Caballero's El Puente is a thouroughbred. It got 3rd two years ago, 2nd last year, and 8th this year. It has been my personal favorite in each COE Honduras every year. I bought a Q auction lot of it last year and it, too, was spectacular.

It's one of those special coffees that hasn't won the COE yet, but it might trump lots of the #1s, #2s and #3s. It has a really distinct ripe-grape-and-lavender character, and beautiful silky body. Duane and I nicknamed the coffee "The Purple Princess" at the COE Honduras last year, it was so distinct on each table it appeared.

I'm really glad this auction went down this way- this very special coffee (that risked getting lost in the also-rans) which showed its true colors, and the market showed that the Purple Princess is indeed a true winner.

Peter G

[Peter G]

I don't remember which one was weird either, but it sure was yukky.

Honduras has some issues with drying, and this could explain why that particular coffee made it through the COE jury but crashed shortly after. That coffee tasted past croppish to me, which can result from improper drying and/or storage.

Also, remember, that the "top 10" won't necessarily be "the best" coffees! The jury process is very good, but it's not infallible. Sometimes, something just goes wrong and the jury misses a great one, and it winds up in the twenties. Also, there is no accounting for taste, and "controversial" coffees might be punished by people who just don't like the coffee for some reason.

The COE system is very complex. Mark P's observation about last year's winner being a point higher, and fetching a significantly higher price, assumes that there should be some direct relationship between point scores and auction price.

As much as I would like for that to be so, it just isn't. The main reason is that cuppers, even "superstars" are just not that accurate. A normal spread between high and low scores on a given coffee, even if you throw out the highest and lowest scores, is usually 8-10 points. Also, a coffee that recieves 10 79's and 10 91's will score the same as a coffee that receives 20 85's. Lastly, the score is a "preference score" at its heart, so regional/personal flavor preferences matter A LOT. Therefore, jury composition is very very important.

In general, though, you can definitely say that coffees that score in the 90s are very popular with the jury.

All very interesting.

Peter

[trish]

we liked the #12, which was at $5 from the get -go...Did you win that one, Pete?

The #1 was a pacamara, eh?

chuggin away on the nic samples now....

[dwelltimester]

i only got to cup #s 1-12, and i remember them being pretty all over the board. from memory, i can say #s 2, 4, 8 and 11 were tops with me. but again, didn't get to try anything past #12, and from the sounds of it, there were some stunners in the lower ranks. but i don't remember any particularly awful coffees in the top ten, just some less beautiful than the ones i mentioned.

[Steve]

I think this year is affected by five auctions in five weeks, and I go back to the point of there is no zero sum at all in these things but in reality there are budgets that people have to spend on competition coffee, and when its gone its gone. My feeling is people are saving budgets for Guatemala and to a lesser extent El Salvador, and this has a cascading effect.

I cupped most of Honduras samples, and found the 20-33 some of the most spectacular and interesting lots. It was an interesting table, and I'm VERY happy with my coffee indeed.

Nicaragua auction is being put of for a couple of days due to sample problems, so back to the cupping table I guess but not so rushed.

I've done the top ten of Nicaragua and so far I'm not blown away, compared to last year. One stand out lot, that I'm sure will attract lots of attention, but the rest we solid but not knock out. I'm hoping for more further down. I have noticed a real change in profile from last years competition, and one real positive point is I think there are some good espresso based coffee's there.

[Steve]

There was one in the top 10 I cupped that I really, really disliked - woody, dirty, just all wrong.

Can't remember its positioning though (might have been 10th?)

I was on the same table as Jim and I rememebr that one but without my notes I'm not sure which one. Was very woody.

[nick]

Cupped the 33 with the P.G. and the G. Good times.

So much for the "auctions driven purely by hype" myth.

For the people who thought as much, stick to HSX.

[Steve]

Cupped the 33 with the P.G. and the G. Good times.

So much for the "auctions driven purely by hype" myth.

For the people who thought as much, stick to HSX.

Honduras is Historically the quietest of all the auctions. Last year some of the coffees sold at the opening bid at $1.50 a lb so I think this year is good, there seems to be lots of love spread all over the auction, and obviously lots of happy people who paid a good price for coffee, and more importantly farmers who received a fair price for awesome coffee.

[Tim Dominick]

I'm really glad this auction went down this way- this very special coffee (that risked getting lost in the also-rans) which showed its true colors, and the market showed that the Purple Princess is indeed a true winner.

Peter G

I often find myself assigning color to taste. Purple most often comes to mind when i am tasting very lovely things. Orange and blue are nice, but when I see green or yellow it is often associated with less pleasing tastes.

I did enjoy many of the samples. It really changed my view of Honduran coffees. Congrats to those who picked up some great coffees at very reasonable prices.