MILAN – On this International Coffee Day, Fairtrade is celebrating the spirit of friendly competition with the Golden Cup that brings together coffee producers to compete for the highest quality coffee, and also demonstrating the links between great coffee quality and smart climate mitigation practices.
This year’s Golden Cup final in Honduras that included 46 samples from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Mexico, confirmed that delicious coffee can be produced fairly and sustainably.
Miguel Ángel Rivera, awarded the top prize for the best blended coffee lot in this year’s Golden Cup competition, said the forest nursery where 50,000 plants have been planted annually for the past three years, has helped alleviate some of the problems associated with climate change including the increased humidity that cause disease like rust fungus.
Rivera, part of the COAQUIL cooperative in Honduras, added that the nursery has created a virtuous cycle of improved productivity. Improving the filtered shade and biodiversity within the coffee plot, supports healthier soils, leading to more productive trees – which supports farmers to make investments in the production and processing systems required for delicious, high quality coffees.
Fairtrade’s Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC) began coffee quality contests about a decade ago in Brazil and Costa Rica. Over the years the Golden Cup competitions began to be held in other coffee producing countries, and in 2024 there will be a total of 10 national competitions. They include events in: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.
In each coffee producing country, a diverse, highly qualified jury assesses the samples of Fairtrade producers, and then they rate according to specialty coffee criteria including aroma, flavour, and acidity. Plus, there are a lot of festivities and local customs to go along with the coffee .
The competition encourages coffee farmers and workers to continuously improve their coffee quality and get inspired by their coffee producing colleagues. These efforts to create and showcase the array of top quality profiles within the Fairtrade offering has been an important step in opening doors to top speciality markets, translating into more opportunities and partnerships for small producer organizations and their producer networks.
Samples from winning lots are often featured on cupping tables at the major international trade shows, such as the Specialty Coffee Expo (USA) and World of Coffee (Europe).
Joel Galeas, of the CAFICO cooperative, explained that the key to producing specialty and high-quality coffee is maintaining the coffee production line. “This means ensuring genetically pure plants, securing production systems with good agricultural practices, implementing processing systems with good manufacturing practices, and ensuring proper coffee processing. That’s the foundation.”
Let’s celebrate all the good that coffee can do for communities throughout the world.
About Fairtrade International
Fairtrade changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions, and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries. Fairtrade International is an independent non-profit organisation representing more than two million small-scale farmers and workers worldwide. It owns the Fairtrade Mark, a registered trademark of Fairtrade that appears on more than 37,000 products.
Beyond certification, Fairtrade International and its member organisations empower producers, partner with businesses, engage consumers, and advocate for a fair and sustainable future. Find out more here.
