Four international judges reviewed and tasted almost 100 different coffee samples from the Philippines to find the best of the season 5 kilos of the best coffees which will score a high 80 points or even higher per the Q system of the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) standards.
Through the USDA grant administered under ACDIVOCA, the KP Coffee Cupping competition is one of the projects under Mindanao Productivity through Agriculture, Commerce and Trade (MinPACT) with CQI’s In Country Partner, the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc.(PCBI).
Since March 2016, PCBI and ACDIVOCA have been doing trainings on Introduction to the Q-grading system, which will be the language taught to farmers and processors to find the better coffees which can compete with other coffees of the world. “This’mini Olympics’ allows us to find the coffees which will score well and will be worthy of international exposure at the SCA Convention in Seattle in April,” says Nicholas Matti, PCBI chair.
“It’s time for Philippine coffees to shine again,” says Dr. Andy Mojica PCBI director and host of the Cupping Competition which will be at Cavite State University from Feb 28- March 3. The four days will have four judges tasting each sample and through a complex system determine the scores of the samples submitted.
The judges were invited and headquartered by CQI and ACDIVOCA through the coordination of the PCBI at Cavite State University Cupping lab specifically set up for the competition. Two more cupping labs will be set up in Mindanao by ACDIVOCA to give farmers and producers access to cupping and grading facilities.
With this event it is envisioned that Philippine Coffee will again be given exposure, value and recognition among the international coffee community. Thelonious Trimmell, Chief of Party of the MinPACT project will be bringing the winning samples to the USA, and will invite the international market to cup them.
The PCBI and ACDIVOCA will continue the MinPACT project to produce more Q and R graders- coffee specialists who can taste coffee, score them and finally take them to world markets rather than just roasting them for domestic consumption. “We will produce an army of Q and R (Robusta) graders and PCBI will continue long after the MinPACT project culminates in 2018,” says Matti.
For more information on future trainings and activities, log on to www.philcoffeeboard.com or email [email protected] or call 0908-8831218.