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2010 Honduras Cup of Excellence, Day One
10:10 AM
It has begun, we are cupping coffees once again, in a country where coffee grows. I have never been to Honduras, and I am quite unfamiliar with their coffees. Tim Wendleboe, who is here, says that Honduras is one of his favorite origins. I am sure to discover what he loves some much about these coffees.
10:48 AM
First round of calibration is now finished, talking has commenced. Sitting with Scott and Deaton, chatting about the coffees. Six coffees in the first round. Will be fun to see where these coffees fall out. The judges are definitely not afraid to voice their opinions, and we do have a jury willing to reward and punish which is good. Right now we are talking about my favorite coffee from round one. Hit the range 79 - 94 points. I scored it an 88. I did like it, but it is a blended coffee so as to not prejudice the jury during the real rounds. Lots of people would buy this coffee today, but obviously its not an actual lot. So far the group seems to be in track right off the bat. Now we are going back to cup the same six coffees again, but in different order. Looking forward to the real cupping to begin in the morning.
My first round of coffee scores were pretty decent. I was within one or two points of the national jury scores. While this is comforting, the reality is that in the world of specialty coffee, what national’s know and appreciate about their own coffee, does not always translate into what consuming markets appreciate. What is definitely true in the world of coffee is that there is a buyer out there for every coffee. What I have experienced at the past in judging events is that the Asian market is looking for something different than the European market, which in turn looks for something different than the North American market.
11:15 AM
In truth, it is what works with juries like these, where 21 people give a coffee a score based on their personal preferences. The highest score and the lowest score is tossed out, and the remaining judge’s scores are averaged. In the world of COE, any coffee receiving a score of 84 points or better gets awarded the distinction of cup of excellence. If a coffee has an average score above 90 points, it is awarded the Presidents Award.
11:55 AM
Just finished the second repeat table of calibration coffees. Unfortunately two coffees were eliminated from the tables this round for having the phenol defect. Under COE rules if one table has a cup that is phenolic, the coffee is automatically banished from the competition. Glad that we are in calibration mode, as there are only 39 coffees to evaluate this COE, compared to the 60 we started with last year in El Salvador.
11:15 PM
The rest of the day was spent visiting an indigenous community about 1.5 hours away from the hotel in Marcala we are staying at. We were introduced to their traditional clay pottery creations, and then given a bit of a presentation by the local town counsel. We made our way back to the hotel and had dinner around 8:30. Since then I have been talking to some of the crew here, and specifically Tracy Allen and Ulises Sevilla about the state of specialty coffee in Honduras. I learned a lot, and am sure that I will continue to learn a lot about Honduras this week. I am excited to try the coffees here, and look forward to discovering both the coffee and hopefully some great producers too. Well it is late, and this post is being typed in Pages, much frustration on my part with no active internet in my room, and I will post it in the morning.
Here ends the run down for day one of the 2010 COE Honduras.
goto http://www.flickr.com/photos/transcendcoffee/ for photos.
