CoffeeGeek Podcast 032 - Cup of Excellence, Interviews with Andrew Barnett, Susie Spindler (of COE)

Show Notes Cup of Excellence Brasil Auction, Part II (9:02) Interview with Andrew Barnett of Ecco Caffè, Santa Rosa, California, international juror for Cup of Excellence (10:14) Andrew on what COE is all about and his involvement with it (11:42) The Brasil auction: what $50/lb may do for coffee; marketing to the consumer (15:48) Andrew's impressions of the winning coffee; how COE coffees are scored (19:49) Lot #1: Fazenda Santa Inês; farmer, Francisco Dias Pereira. Highest scoring coffee in any COE with a score of 95.85; received Andrew's top score of 97; received two scores of 100. Purchased by Michel's Espresso, Instaurator and Caffè Artigiano. Mark and Andrew discuss the price of the coffee from the consumer perspective (21:14) Lot #2: Fazenda São Benedito; farmer, Antônio José Junqueira Villela. Sold for $7.80 per pound; purchased by The Roasterie, Stumptown, Ecco Caffè, Kaffa, and Maruyama. (30:43) Lot #3: Sítio São José; farmer, Luiz Roberto Ribeiro. The farms that produced the top three coffees are neighbors. (33:02) Lot #23 purchased by Ecco Caffè, 49th Parallel Roasters, Intelligentsia, and Golden Coffee Box - Fazenda Santa Terezinha; farmer, Paulo Sérgio de Almeida. (37:01) coffeegeek.com will join COE at the benefactor level (41:01) Coming soon to Ecco Caffè: a coffee purchased with the Small Axe Alliance from the Bolivian COE (41:41) Susie Spindler, Executive Director, Cup of Excellence (45:40) Susie on what COE is all about and her involvement with it (46:58) How consumers can find local COE coffees; how to get their roasters involved in COE (50:08) Benefits of standard COE membership include access to the auction system, priority on international juries, and access to a searchable database of winning farms (51:24) Building bridges between roasters, farmers and cultures (53:06) The Brasil auction: what $50/lb may do for coffee; scoring of the first place coffee and the stigma of coffee from Brasil among specialty coffee roasters (57:51) Marketing coffees to the consumer as a culinary treat: raising the expectations of the consumer (1:04:38) Disparity between scores and prices of the first and second place coffees (1:11:52) Visit the COE web site to learn more. (1:15:00)