COLOMBIA – Angélica María Arroyave is the new Cup Taster Champion

MEDELLÍN – From the municipality of Riosucio, in the department of Caldas, Angélica María Arroyave is the new Colombian Cup Taster Champion, a competition that in its fourth edition took place in ExpoEspeciales 2014.
“One of characteristics that a cupper must have is the sensorial skills needed for correctly profiling different coffee cups, besides conviction, knowledge, tranquility, creativity, agility and discipline, among others,” said Angélica María, who will travel to Sweden to represent Colombia in the World Cup Tasters Championship in June, 2015, as part of its award.
The second position was for Diego Alejandro Rivera, from the Buencafé freeze-dried coffee factory, and the third one was for Juan Sebastián Guevara, from the Racafé company.
For this year, 81 cup tasters registered (76% up from the 46 of last year) among coffee farmers, exporting companies, instructors of the National Learning Service (Sena), departmental coffee growers committees and farmer associations.
Arroyave, a 34-year-old agronomic engineer, works at the Coffee Quality Area of the High- Western Coffee Growers Cooperative, in the municipality of Riosucio, Caldas.
She started in the coffee world providing technical assistance to coffee growers. She has eight years of experience and in previous years she won a regional competition that is held every year in the Manizales Fair.
“It was a true challenge and now it is a reality. This shows that coffee cupping is a profession that we all can learn and perfect. In this field, women also have a space,” she said at the announcement of her victory, because of correctly answering 8 of 8 cup sets in 4 minutes and 11 seconds.
Delio Rodrigo Alarcón, coordinator of the Almacafé’s Central Quality Laboratory, explained: “This year cup tasters have practiced with many months in advance. If coffee growers know what their coffee tastes of, it is a proof of better knowledge.”
In the finals of the competition, the winner defeated another eight cuppers. Through triangulation of eight sets of three cups (there are two identical cups and one is different, and competitors must put aside the different one), the winner is who gets more right answers as quickly as possible.
Competitions of this kind are of great value to promote Colombian coffee quality and improve the vision and conditions of life of Colombian coffee growers.
Having increasingly more and better cuppers in Colombia helps increase appreciation and penetration of the drink in segments of high added value, what in turns translates into better income for farmers.