Ethiopian coffee producer Nigussie Gemeda Mude was announced as the winner of the inaugural Cup of Excellence Ethiopia coffee competition with his Sidama sun-dried natural coffee, which scored 91.04 out of 100 possible points in the nationwide competition and beat out more than 1,400 entries from across the country.

“It’s exciting to know my coffee has made it this far. Becoming number one was what I was aiming for. I am very happy to promote our great coffee and to benefit from the market opportunities that will follow the result” Gemeda says. “It’s an honor to receive the special recognition. This encourages me to do more.”

Rumudamo Coffee Industry Trade PLC scored 90.89 and RumuDamo scored 90.25 with their Sidama-based coffees. All three entries received the Presidential Award from the organizing body at the Alliance for Coffee Excellence.

Launched in January 2020, the Cup of Excellence competition in Ethiopia was organized by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, with support from USAID through its Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity, and wide-ranging collaboration across the Ethiopian coffee industry. The competition aims to create a more viable specialty coffee market in Ethiopia, linking local producers to global buyers and garnering premium prices for Ethiopia-grown coffees.

“The competition has been exciting and broke several records including the highest number of entries and highest number of buyers registered for the auction. Congratulations to all the winners,” said Darrin Daniel, Executive Director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, based in Portland, Oregon.

In addition to Nigussie’s winning coffee, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence and Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority announced the top 28 winning coffees from the competition – all of which will be sold in an online auction on June 25 where more than 130 international buyers and coffee lovers will place their bids on Ethiopian specialty coffees, which are expected to garner premium prices. In the prior competition in Brazil, the winning coffee fetched more than $150 USD per pound.

For more information about the Cup of Excellence competition, including the full list of winning coffees, visit www.allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/ethiopia-2020