Father and son team, Josue and Héctor Bonilla from the farm Don Mayo La Loma in the Tarrazú region won the prestigious 2020 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence (COE) award for a second time, having last accomplished this a decade ago in 2009.
The winning coffee from Bonilla is a honey processed Geisha variety that scored an impressive 90.27 points.
The two runner-ups come from the Tarrazú region as well. El Cedro farm won second place with a honey process Typica that got 90.14 points, making it the only coffee other than first place to win the Presidential Award. Don Cayito won the third place with an 89.55-scoring washed Geisha.
Héctor Bonilla said that they are thrilled to have achieved the first place of the Costa Rica 2020 Cup of Excellence as a family, adding that
In time of pandemic where only bad news is received, this is an inspiration to keep going.
Héctor Bonilla
The Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) revealed a total of 26 COE winning coffees and 14 National Winner coffees from the Costa Rica competition. Eight winners presented a Kenya variety, and 10 represented Geisha. Ten honey processed, five were washed, seven were anaerobic, and four were naturals. In general, the winning coffees represented three regions, with three from Central Valley, 14 from Occidente, and nine from Tarrazú.
Preliminary cuppings started in early April; however, due to health authorities’ guidelines, the competition was postponed a couple of weeks.
The COE has an important influence on coffee producers, so the Specialty Coffee Association of Costa Rica (SCACR) and ACE operated to adapt the different competition stages both at origin and internationally, using Global Cupping Centers (GCCs). This was the fourth competition held at these GCCs.
The producers will have to wait for the 5 August, when all 26 winning lots will go to auction.
