We left off with Jeff getting a good night's sleep prior to a full 7 hour day of cupping and judging this year's Cup of Excellence Competition in Guatemala. Here's what happened next.
Competition Day
The weather here reflects the beginning of the rainy season for Guatemala - and yes it has been raining
very hard for the last few days. Maybe it's not the best for sightseeing, but to me, this this is good sign for next year's crops: the heavy rain will begin the flowerings that will produce next year's coffee beans. And besides, I will inside all day judging COE.
Today, we cupped all of the coffees that had scored over a 84 - a total
of 29. There are some excellent coffees that will fetch over 90 points
in the Top 10 Cuppings, which will be held tomorrow. It was pretty
grueling to crank out all 29 cuppings, but in many respects a lot
of fun. Man, some of these coffees are incredible! Exploring all the
great flavors is the best part. The words I've heard the most from the
other international judges as we discuss this years COE: dark
chocolate, apple, creamy, honey-like, buttery overtones, citrus and
berry-like, floral, caramel and vanilla flavors. Delicious. Tomorrow
will bring the best of the best of Guatemala's coffees, with the awards
banquet tomorrow night after the winners are announced. I can't wait to
cup them.
Yesterday we visited a beautiful, totally organic and
sustainable farm and Saturday we will be visiting more on our quest for
the best coffees at our Zoka stores back home.
So much to do in so little time.
The Best of Coffee in the Worst of Conditions
Our full day of cupping concluded with a volcanic eruption. Pacaya,
just 50 kilometers from our hotel, erupted covering the the city with a
1/2 inch dusting of ash: on the streets, on the roofs... on the
airplane tarmac. We will be scrambling to rearrange and find flights
out of El Salvador, four hours away, on Sunday.
Pacaya Volcano, prior to its eruption this month.
But
it's easy to ignore travel problems when you have the Top 10 Guatemala
COE coffees to cup! It was way more fun than hard work. The coffees
were even better than I expected. There was a huge variety of flavors,
body and sweetness.
There were a couple of Pacamara coffees along with several traditional super-sweet and well balanced coffees. I
predicted (and was right!) that the Pacamara from El Injerto farm took
the overall first place; the two coffees I also thought should be in
the top three were right behind. They both had outstanding sweetness
and juicy flavors that made you want to keep cupping all day.
All
ten were outstanding and I am sure will fetch a solid price with their
auction next month. We will see what we can do to land some of these
great coffees for Zoka.
Homeward Bound... Kind Of
After the cupping and awards ceremony, we had planned on visiting
another coffee farm in Antigua. However, the Pacaya volcano put a
major damper on our plans. The airport, covered in heavy ash, wasn't
letting planes in or out for several more days. And,
news flash, Tropical Storm Agatha was on its way.
After
some research and mental anguish, several of the international judges
were off late Friday evening, and Saturday I was on my way to El
Salvador: a four hour bus ride to catch a plane leaving Sunday morning
at 6:30. I figured I could just hang out at the San
Salvador airport Saturday night before I caught the early morning
flight to Houston. No big deal, right?
Think again. It was fine except the airport is pretty
much closed after 9:00 pm and the militaristic guards do not think much
of people lingering in their airport after hours, no matter if they
have a ticket or not. But, after some persuasion, they let me stay -
although they would check on me almost hourly to be sure I was not up
to something. And they x-rayed my luggage at least 4 times. It was a
little spooky. I think next time I will just rent the nearest hotel
room even if I have to get up at 3:00 am and walk down the street to
get my flight.
The flight back was easy and I slept most of
the way. When I got home, I heard of the huge sink hole and massive
rains and slides that have caused so much damage and loss of life in
Guatemala City. I'm glad I got out when I did. I can only hope things there improve soon.
I am home now and looking very favorably to the COE auction soon to come.
Until next time,
Jeff Babcock
Zoka Coffee President
