4.03.2003 ET

(CSRwire) NORWALK, CT- Two-hundred-and-fifty coffee samples from small and medium-scale farms and large estates throughout Nicaragua have already been submitted for the upcoming "Cup of Excellence®," the second-ever countrywide coffee competition to be held here, according to Ernest van Panhuys, Country Director of TechnoServe/Nicaragua, one of the event's organizers. Event organizers anticipate that more than 350 samples will be submitted by the Friday, April 4 deadline (5 PM local time).

Previously held in Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua, the Cup of Excellence® is a country-wide event designed to identify and promote the host country's best coffees through a series of blind tastings, called "cuppings," that are conducted by national and international judges and that evaluate every detail, from body and acidity to flavor and balance. Nicaraguan coffee growers of all sizes and from all regions have been invited to submit samples for the 2003 Cup of Excellence®.

From April 7-11, all coffee samples will be evaluated by a jury of 15 national coffee experts, at the offices of Bolsa Agropecuaria in Managua. The competition then moves to the Hotel Intercontinental Metrocentro where, from April 21-25, the first-round winners will be re-evaluated by the 15 national jurists. From April 30-May 3, the second-round winners will be evaluated by an international jury of 20 coffee experts. The final winners will be selected on May 3 and will receive the prestigious Cup of Excellence® prize. On June 10, the winning coffees will participate in an Internet auction, where international importers and specialty coffee roasters will bid on Nicaragua's best beans.

The 2003 "Cup of Excellence®" in Nicaragua is designed to help coffee growers who are committed to quality coffee to earn better prices. The organizers include: TechnoServe; Asociación de Cafes Especiales de Nicaragua (ACEN); Ministry of Agriculture; Proyecto Nacional de Competitividad (ProCompe); Unión de Cooperativas de Pequeños Productores de Nicaragua (CafeNica); Asociación de Exportadores de Café de Nicaragua (EXCAN); Bolsa Agropecuaria (BAGSA); Asociación de Almacenes de Depósitos Financieros (ASOFIN); COOPENORTE (association of coffee-processing mills); and the non-profit organization CLUSA.

The Cup of Excellence® is owned and managed by The Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Inc. (ACE), and was created by the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association working with George Howell, Susie Spindler and the Specialty Coffee Association of America under the International Coffee Organization's Gourmet Project conducted in 1999. Sponsors of the 2003 Cup of Excellence® in Nicaragua include the World Bank, Swedish Government and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). TechnoServe's involvement is made possible with funding from USAID and Procter & Gamble.

In 2002, TechnoServe joined forces with the Asociación de Cafes Especiales de Nicaragua and the Programa Nacional de Competitividad to organize the country's first-ever "Cup of Excellence®" competition. Of the 285 coffee samples submitted, 23 were selected as winners and participated in an Internet auction. All 23 coffee lots offered were purchased by international buyers, and the coffee grown in Jinotega by smallholders Arturo González and Eliseo Lumbí fetched the highest price, at $11.75 per pound. This was twenty times the price of coffee on the New York market, and it set a new record price for coffee sold via the Internet.

"The Cup of Excellence 2002 pulled the best Nicaraguan coffee growers from anonymity and gave them a high price for their great commitment to quality," said Roberto Bendaña, Vice Minister of Agriculture. "In addition, the Nicaraguan coffees surpassed both the international jury's and international buyers' expectations. This event showed everyone that Nicaragua produces some of the best coffee in the world."

"The Cup of Excellence is a bright spot in these difficult times for coffee growers worldwide," said TechnoServe's Ernest van Panhuys. "We believe that attention to quality is a very important component in solving the current coffee crisis, and the Cup of Excellence is an excellent way to showcase producer countries and coffee growers who are committed to quality."

TechnoServe is currently assisting hundreds of small- and medium-scale coffee growers in Nicaragua to improve the quality of their coffee and to penetrate niche markets that pay higher prices for good quality. Early last year, TechnoServe and Procter & Gamble announced their alliance -- including Procter & Gamble's $1.5 million grant to TechnoServe -- to help small-scale coffee growers in Latin America to weather the current crisis of record-low world market prices. For the 2003 Cup of Excellence in Nicaragua, TechnoServe is coordinating work plans, roles and responsibilities with the other organizers; working with PricewaterhouseCoopers, who will audit the results; overseeing the web site for the Cup of Excellence event and Internet auction; managing the budget; and handling the calculations of the cupping results (scoring).

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