All Africa reported on the results of the 5th Annual Cup of Excellence competition recently.

What is this competition?

It is set up in Rwanda to reward the best coffees in the country and started in March this year.

Jurors were shown coffee farmers’ best coffees so that they can make their decisions.

So who won?

Gishugi Caferwa Coffee Washing Station was awarded the Presidential Award and the runners up were Mibilizi Coffee and Gisuma Coffee (respectively).

The voting system for these winners is top international coffee suppliers voting via their tasters.

Of course, there is an added commercial advantage to this form of voting system, as the winners may then be taken on by global suppliers and they have greater access to the market.

Samples of the winning coffees are sent all over the globe to a variety of international companies and also to coffee connoisseurs.

The Coffee Cup of Excellence started in 2007 in Rwanda.

The aim is to build relationships between high quality coffee traders and also the high quality coffee farmers in the country.

The competition promotes Rwandan coffee and boosts demand.

It is important that initiatives like this raise the profile of a nation’s coffee industry.