Guatemalan National Competition concluded:

46 coffee lots still on the run.

Guatemala City, April 19, 2004. José Angel López, President of the Guatemalan National Coffee Association, Anacafé, informed in a press conference that 46 coffee lots were selected during the National Competition. These coffees will enter the International Competition that will begin April 28, right after the Conference and Exhibition of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, in Atlanta, GA.

KPMG, the international world wide auditing firm that verifies cupping procedures of the program, provided the list of the winners: Huehuetenango 12; Sacatepéquez 10 (where Antigua is located); Guatemala 5 (commonly known as Fraijanes); Santa Rosa 5; Chimaltenango 4; Alta Verapaz 3 (where Cobán is located); Jalapa 2; San Marcos 2; Quetzaltenango 1; Sololá 1 (where Atitlán region is from); Suchitepéquez 1.

Mane’ Alves, international coordinator and head judge of the National Competition, worked with 11 experienced and professional national cuppers for three arduous days. He explained that he was very pleased with the quality of the coffees and the work done by the National Jury. “From all the cupping competitions I have been involved in, the Guatemalan National Jury is by far the most advanced in cupping expertise”.

Eduardo Ambrocio, Master Cupper of Anacafé, also added that it was very hard to eliminate coffees. “It is very important to high light that all coffees were very clean, with pleasant aromas”, he said when trying to describe the quality of the coffees.

Alves said that the international competition brings up different challenges. “It will be very exciting because we have new experienced cuppers from different countries that will have to choose among high quality coffees”. The results of the competition will be presented on Friday, April 30, in Anacafé headquarters.

List of National Jurors:
Guillermo Huezo, Jorge de León, Oscar Escobar, José Vargas, Marco Antonio Avila, Humberto Peña, Baltazar Lucero, Francisco Luna, Amílcar Méndez, Miguel Turcios, Eduardo Ambrocio.

New opportunities for hard beans
President López also announced that the pre-screening phase of the Guatemalan Q-Auction is already open. “One of the special characteristics of this auction is that for the first time hard beans can participate”, he explained when listing differences between the two auctions.

The Q-Auction is organized by the Coffee Quality Institute, CQI, of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, SCAA, supported by Anacafé and financed by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. This auction is one of the events of the Quality Coffee Program for Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

He also said that coffee growers can register lots from 125 to 250 bags of 69 kilos with the exporting company of their preference, who will have the task of choosing the very best to enter in the National Grading to be held in Anacafé headquarters, from May 10 to 13.

Members of the Star Cuppers program, of CQI, will integrate the National Jury that will select 20 samples to participate in the International Grading to be held on May 14. Only 7 lots will be auctioned through the Internet on July 13.

“We invite all coffee growers to participate and take advantage of these programs that are specially designed to those who are committed to quality and expect better prices”, he exhorted. “The coffee crisis is not over, but it has opened new opportunities for those that have the vision to recognize them”.