Escoffee wins Golden Cup… again!

It is a great pleasure to announce that Escoffee has won the Taza Dorada Competition 2009 in Ecuador, for the second year in a row! Like in 2008, it was voted again to have the best fragrance, aroma, flavor, acidity, body, uniformity and cleanliness (cupping criteria) in the entire country. (In 2007, Escoffee came in 3rd)

The competition, organized by the national association of coffee exporters ANECAFÉ, is held every year among Ecuador’s coffee farmers and associations. This year, the competition was held on home-turf, in the southern province of Loja. The Escoffee farmers, who live in the cantons of Olmedo, Chaguarpamba and Paltas harvest organic, shade-grown, hand-picked Arabica coffee. The quality depends also on proper wet-processing of the coffee. Amigos International has been providing pulping machines for Escoffee farmers to add value to their coffee cherries.

The winning farmers receive besides the honor a high monetary premium for his or her winning coffee. Fernando Granda (see below, left), 24 years of age, won the first prize in 2008. He has been a coffee farmer for 10 years, as he started learning the ropes with his father during his adolescence. He grows his Caturro and Criollo varieties of Arabica on 2 hectares of land. His hope is to increase the productivity, as he only harvested 10 quintals (453 kg) of green clean coffee. In this respect, Amigos International’s funding of a nursery (‘vivero’) has been very valuable; here he can buy seedlings at cost – he plans to buy at least 2.000 plants. Fernando is single, likes to play sports (football and volleyball) and will be an active member in the to-be-established coffee association in Olmedo-Chaguarpamba (ACOPOC). This association is to become Fair trade certified in the year ahead.

On behalf of the 250 Escoffee farmers in the province of Loja and quality roasters Escoffee S.A. in Guayaquil, Amigos International would like to thank all of you for your support of the brand during the last 6 years. One of only a few PICO products in Europe, Escoffee has grown in a fantastic way – now available in organic food stores, fine restaurants, offices and university campuses across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Finland, UK, and as of December in Spain.