The study confirms that excellent coffees come from zones with specific agro-climatic conditions. It also shows, however, that the right agro-climatic conditions are not enough. To produce excellent coffees, producers need to be meticulous in their attention to detail, especially during post-harvest processing of their coffee.

"The Cup of Excellence® has captured the attention of many coffee producers in Nicaragua, particularly at a time when world market prices are so low that many growers don't receive prices high enough to cover their costs of production," said Ernest van Panhuys, TechnoServe's Country Director in Nicaragua. "Many growers are asking us what conditions they need and what methods they should employ to produce a coffee of excellent quality. And in order to answer their questions, we carried out this study to determine the key factors that contributed to the success of the 2003 Cup® winners."

"Our participation in the Cup of Excellence® in 2002 and 2003 put Nicaragua on the global map in terms of our ability to produce world-class coffee that can command very high prices," said Roberto Bendaña, President of ACEN. "We believe this study contains valuable lessons for high-quality coffee producers and buyers in Nicaragua and around the world."

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The Cup of Excellence® is a nationwide tasting event created by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) to identify, promote and earn better prices for quality coffee. The 2003 Cup® organizers in Nicaragua were TechnoServe; The Alliance For Coffee Excellence (ACE); the Specialty Coffee Association of Nicaragua (Asociación de Cafes Especiales de Nicaragua --ACEN); Ministry of Agriculture; Proyecto Nacional de Competitividad (ProCompe); 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 Cooperative League of the United States (CLUSA). Sponsors included the U.K. Department for International Development, the World Bank, the Swedish Government, the Japanese Government, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, and TechnoServe with funding from Procter & Gamble and the U.S. Agency for International Development.