What Is the Cup of Excellence? The World's Top Coffee Award Explained

The Cup of Excellence is the most rigorous coffee competition in the world. It evaluates thousands of coffees from a single producing country each year through multiple rounds of blind cupping, selects the top-scoring lots, and sells them at international online auction. Every winning coffee is traceable to a specific farm. Every bid price goes almost entirely to the farmer. The process has not changed in structure since 1999, because it works.

Brazil holds a unique position in the competition history. It was the first country to run the competition and runs two separate CoE competitions annually — one for the early harvest and one for the late harvest. Brazilian CoE coffees come primarily from Minas Gerais, with key regions including Carmo de Minas, Sul de Minas, and Cerrado Mineiro.

Brazilian winners show deep chocolate, caramel, dried fruit, and brown sugar character. For a full overview of Brazilian coffee flavor and producing regions, read our coffees of the world overview.

The CoE scoring system evaluates eight attributes: roast color, dry fragrance and wet aroma, cleanliness, sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel, flavor, and aftertaste. Every judge scores independently. The final score is the average of all judge scores across all sessions. A score of 87 earns CoE status. A score of 90 earns the Presidential Award. Scores above 92 are extremely rare.

For more on how tasting notes and scoring language work in specialty coffee, read our coffee tasting notes guide.

After the competition, winning lots are listed in a global online auction. Specialty roasters from the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Europe, and Australia compete in real time. The farmer receives the vast majority of auction proceeds. Auction prices for top CoE lots routinely reach 10 to 20 times commodity market price.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Award

A coffee must score 87 points or above through the full international jury process to earn the CoE designation. Coffees scoring 90 or above earn the Presidential Award. Scores are averages across multiple blind cupping sessions.

The CoE requires every coffee to pass three rounds of blind cupping, with the final round judged by an international panel. Each lot is evaluated at least five times. This multi-round blind process makes CoE scores more rigorous than most other specialty coffee awards.

As of 2025, CoE competitions run in Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and several other origins. Brazil holds two competitions per year.

Yes, with limitations. Most CoE auction lots go to specialty roasters who buy in bulk. Some roasters offer CoE lots as limited single-origin releases after purchasing at auction. Quantities are small and sell quickly.

CoE auction prices routinely reach 10 to 20 times commodity market rates for winning lots. The farmer receives the vast majority of proceeds directly. For smallholder farms selling at commodity prices, a CoE win can represent a significant change in economic outcomes.

Why the Cup of Excellence Matters for Your Cup

CoE influence reaches beyond the auction lots themselves. Farms that compete develop better post-harvest practices and quality standards across their whole operation. CoE also created the blueprint for farm-level traceability that specialty coffee now takes for granted.

Explore our premium coffee collection for single-origin options sourced with the same traceability priorities CoE pioneered. Our Colombian coffee guide covers an origin that consistently produces some of the highest-scoring CoE lots. For the full story of how coffee reached us, read our coffee history timeline. Our bulk coffee options keep a consistent supply of fresh-roasted coffee for high-volume home brewers.