A total of 310 samples of Nicaraguan Coffee from 245 of the country’s finest coffee producers went through a rigorous taste test last Friday March 26th, 2021 in Octotal, Nueva Segovia, one of the biggest and best coffee producing regions in the country. This was the pre-selection stage of the “Eighteenth Cup of Excellence Competition 2021″ and the task was to reduce that list of 310 down to 150 samples of Café Oro (Gold Coffee).
The method used is similar to a wine tasting event with experience coffee tasters “cupping” the various samples which consists of judges taking a spoonful of coffee from the cup being tasted, then pouring that into a second spoon, slurping it into their mouth and spitting it out.
The tasting was all part of the promotion of Nicaragua’s specialty coffees and maintaining the recognition of the country’s top 3 export product after gold and beef. In 2020, the total export crop of Café Oro was worth US $ 438 million dollars.
On hand to provide guidance was International Judge Mr. Rony Gámez (Alliance for Coffee Excellence), various institutions representing national producers and an international auditing firm to confirm the results of the secret numbered testing.
The samples had been submitted by producers from Nueva Segovia, Madriz, Jinotega, Matagalpa, Estelí, Masaya, Boaco and Carazo.
Each producer was hoping to advance to the Coffee Week, being held from April 12th to the 17th. During this week long next stage, 40 coffees will be selected during an event organized by the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Production (CONATRADEC) and the Institutions of the National Production System.
Taiwan Receives Nicaraguan Coffee
This Monday the 29th of March 2021, the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) visited the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Nicaragua to hand them 26 samples of the best Nicaraguan coffee for the Central American Coffee Cupping Fair to be held in Taiwan on the 6th and 7th of May 2021 this year.
Ambassador Mr. Jaime Wu was happy to receive the samples and noted that Nicaraguan coffee has a good reputation in Taiwan and predicted that it will always be among the best, recalling the first place finish by Nicaragua in a cupping competition in Taiwan two years ago at an international food fair.
The 26 samples came from Dipilto, Nueva Segovia as well as Madriz, San Juan de Río Coco, Jinotega and Matagalpa to name but a few. First Event for Central America
The Central American Coffee Cupping event will be held in Taipei and is being organized by the Taiwan Commercial Office for Central America (CATO). Sixty of the most influential Taiwanese buyers have been invited to select samples from Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.
In 2020, Nicaragua exported a record breaking US $9 Million of Café Oro to Taiwan. This was an increase of 48% compared to the same period in 2019.
