Well, a very bad hurricane season meant that my flights to Bolivia to be a judge at the 2005 Cup of Excellence were cancelled ... not just for one day but for three. By the time the planes were in the air again, it was too late to go. But that was not the only problems with the Bolivia event this year. It seems there was some behind-the-scenes tussling going on with cooperatives and exporters and the prograom. Of the 60 samples that made it to the finals, around 35 "disappeared" from the warehouse. So in effect it became a Cup of Excellence with only a handful of entries. It's a bad situation for the farmers either way. The CoE is trying to serve their general interests by providing a model of quality, marketing, and a damn good price for the winning lots. But if there isn't enough participation, the whole process is undermined. Hopefully the problems will be smoothed out for next years Bolivia CoE. Hopefully there is a CoE in Bolivia next year. The quality of the coffee in general certainly deserves this kind of attention.

Anyway, I was sad not to make the event, but maybe the fact that Miami International was closed for 3 days was a blessing. It's a long way to go to cup 25 coffees. I will receive all the samples before the auction to cup them here, so in a way I get to participate anyway, and if anything really jumps out at me, we'll certainly buy it. But it needs to jump a tall hurdle; I already have an excellent lot of Cenaproc Peaberry lined up (Cenaproc was a winner in the past 2 cupping events in Bolivia). But I will let the cup speak to me, and buy the best on the table ...

Update 11/29/05: I cupped all the samples here at the shop. There were some average and some excellent. The #1 was my favorite of the high numbered coffees, and I liked #2 and #3 but cupped them against the samples of my Cenaproc pre-ship and felt mine was on par or better. There was a "sleeper coffee" for me, one in the 10-20th place range- but I won't tell what it is until after the auction... Many of the lower numbered coffees, from 7-20th were just good, clean Bolivias, not that exemplary, for me. I noticed that only the #1 is pure 100% Typica, which is disappointing that more aren't all Typica.

Tom