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A few weeks back I was invited to Brazil to serve as a judge in the first ever cupping competition exclusively for Fair Trade Cooperatives. The event was sponsored by Transfair USA along with a few other well know organizations. In all, there were 10 judges involved, and over a 4 day period we cupped nearly 70 different coffees, all from Fair Trade licensed cooperatives throughout Brazil. We cupped full naturals, pulped naturals, and washed coffees, both conventional and organic.
The event was structured like the Cup of Excellence competitions that have been going on for the last few years. The first 3 days were spent tasting and rating the 70 coffees, and the 4th day was dedicated to re-cupping and rating the top 10 full naturals and the top 10 pulped natural and washed coffees. There were some outstanding coffees that transcended the usual perception of the soft mild nutty Brazilian cup. Instead, we were finding refined acidity, mature tropical fruits, heavy body, piquant citrus and notes of spices all over the place. But after 4 days of this, I was starting to gag on the stuff and was wondering what the hell I was doing inside of this crazy building when I was down here in a beautiful, tropical land.
Eventually, our highly diverse panel of judges finished our job, tallied our scores, and settled on the top rated coffee. To absolutely zero surprise on my part, the highest rated coffee was a full natural organic coffee from COOPFAM, better known to most as Poco Fundo.  As many of you know, we have been purchasing this coffee for several years. In fact, Royal purchased the first container of organic coffee COOPFAM ever exported, and we remain close trading partners with the cooperative to this day. As I write, our first shipment of the new crop Poco Fundo FT Organic is sailing on the high seas toward Oakland, due to arrive in early December.
On Day 5, a hastily organized auction was put together for the judges in attendance and for Brazilian roasters to bid on the top 10 coffees in each category as selected on Day 4. The small 15 bag lot of organic Poco Fundo we all loved was purchased by a Brazilian roaster who shelled out $7.20/lb for the magical lot. Well, I have great news for everyone, I didn’t spend anywhere near that amount for the container of the same coffee now heading our way. I’m not telling you it's going to be cheap, but you can purchase with the confidence that you are buying a coffee from the cooperative judged to be producing the best coffee in Brazil – Fair Trade Organic Fully Natural Poco Fundo.
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