Peruvian coffee breaks historical record by raising more than 430 thousand dollars in international auction

The Cajamarcan Yoniser Mego Silvarecognized this year as the best Peruvian coffee grower in the Cup of Excellence competition, raised more than US$52,000 for his coffee in an international electronic auction in which buyers from at least 20 countries participated seeking to acquire some of the 30 best Peruvian specialty coffees produced this 2023.

The current price of a pound of coffee on the New York Stock Exchange is $1.7, but at the Cup of Excellence auction the value of each pound of Yoniser’s specialty coffee reached $80.30, that is about US$8,030 per quintal (100 pounds). In total, he raised US$52,822 for the 658.23 pounds (298.57 kilos) of his Geisha variety coffee grown at 1,990 meters above sea level on the Alto Mirador farm, located in the La Virginia town center, La hamlet. Victoria, which is part of the district of Jaén, province of Jaén, in the Cajamarca region. The entirety of this production was acquired by the Japanese company Kaldi Coffee Farm.

Herly Mego, Yoniser’s brother and coffee taster, highlights the complexity of his Geisha. “It is a complex coffee and consistent in its quality in all evaluations, it has a floral profile, with a lot of jasmine, mango, plum, vanilla, brown sugar, very bright, with hints of lemon verbena,” he said. The Mego Silva brothers, along with Elita Sánchez, Yoniser’s wife, arrived in Lima to witness the live broadcast of the electronic auction along with other coffee growers who won the Cup of Excellence from the headquarters of Central Café & Cacao, the organization that carries out this competition in the country.

The auction began at 9 am and concluded after 5 pm on last Thursday, November 30. The duration of the bidding was extended by eight hours and 30 minutes due to the expectation of hundreds of international buyers who submitted their offers to purchase one of the 30 best Peruvian coffees.

The auction generated interest from international buyers from at least 20 countries, including Sweden, Australia, France, China, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Norway, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Korea of the South, Taiwan, the Arab Emirates, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States, among others, who made 4,318 offers to try to buy some of these exceptional quality beans that will be exported by Central Café & Cacao in the coming days.

Japan was the main buyer of the best Peruvian coffees, acquiring 17 of these 30 coffees. South Korea, China and Taiwan purchased a total of six microlots, demonstrating the great interest of Asian countries in high-quality Peruvian coffee. Other purchasing countries were Australia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and the United States.

Peruvian coffee breaks historical record

In addition to Yoniser Mego coffee, in total the 30 best Peruvian coffees managed to break a historical record in an auction by raising a total of US$431,106.27. This figure exceeds by more than 100 thousand dollars the US$ 330 thousand obtained in 2017, which was, to date, the highest amount raised by the best Peruvian coffees.

“We have obtained the highest value of all the auctions of the best Peruvian coffees since 2017, when the Cup of Excellence competition was held for the first time in Peru,” explained Geni Fundes Buleje, general manager of the Central Café & Cacao and director of the Specialty Coffee Community (CCE) project that promotes this competition in the country.

These results are a demonstration that the image of Peruvian specialty coffee is attracting the interest of the international market based on the fact that, since 2017, this export product demonstrates consistency in improving its quality thanks to the efforts of coffee growers committed to the care of their crops and careful work on their farms, highlighted Fundes Buleje.

Two other big winners in this auction were Franco Huaches Montalván from Cajamarca (second place in the competition), which raised a total of US$34,922 for 785.59 pounds (356.34 kilos) acquired by the companies Cultivar Coffees – Kawa Coffee from Netherlands and Decameron Coffee from China, as well as producer Edwin Quea Paco (third place), who raised US$37,801 for the 617.29 pounds (280 kilos) of his coffee grown in Cusco and which was purchased by the Japanese companies Kyokuto Fadie Corporation and Snow Beans Coffee.

Franco Huaches, who is 53 years old and has dedicated his entire life to coffee growing, said he hopes that the results obtained will motivate other coffee growers to participate in competitions that reward their efforts to obtain specialty coffees. For his part, producer Edwin Quea (38), who is also a cupper, roaster and barista, highlighted that more young people are required to get involved in this industry to guarantee the sustainability of improving the quality of Peruvian coffee.

Taza de Excelencia began its process of selecting the best Peruvian coffee last August thanks to the support of the Specialty Coffee Community (CCE), an initiative of USAID and the Central Café & Cacao. 302 specialty coffee producers from 12 regions participated. After arduous evaluation work by national and international judges, 30 coffees from Cusco, Cajamarca, Junín, Amazonas, Puno and Huancavelica were selected as winners with scores of more than 87 points in tasting sessions.