San Pedro Sula, Honduras - In an outdoor awards ceremony, a packed crowd cheered as Munir Hawitt stepped up to the stage and received the first place trophy for his winning coffee from the Santa Martha farm. The coffee, receiving a final score of 91.41 points out of a possible 100, was the pacamara variety.

This variety, a hybrid made of pacas and maragogype has recently been gaining recognition among specialty coffee buyers and is only found in Central America. The international jury described the coffee as having a smooth effervescent flavor that dances in the mouth, much like a top cabernet sauvignon.

The close second place receiving 91.36 points was awarded to Jose Anael Guevara Ramirez for his sample from the Las Barreras farm. Jose Geovany Martinez, son of Gregorio Marttinez the first place winner from 2004, received a 90.36 and third place.

In total thirty-three coffees out of over 800 submitted were granted the prestigious Cup of Excellence award at the end of the three week long national and international competition. The final fifty-six coffees that had passed the first two phases were cupped and scored by an international jury from 12 different countries in 3 different rounds. All of the winning coffees scored at least 84 out of 100 points during the stringent cupping process.

These award-winning coffees represent the best of the Honduras harvest for 2006 and will be sold to the highest bidder during an Internet auction to be held June 13th, 2006. Samples of these winning coffees will be sent to registered companies or may be cupped again at regional events in Europe and the US.

This was the 24th Cup of Excellence competition. Other participating countries have enjoyed record average prices at auction for their winning coffee lots due mainly to the exceptional and often very rare quality of the winners. For more information about the Honduras winning farms, to register for 2006 Cup of Excellence membership, or to find a complete list of past winning coffees and their buyers log on to www.cupofexcellence.org.

Contact:
Susie Spindler
Alliance for Coffee Excellence  
Email: susie@montana.com
Phone: 406-542-3509