DABOV Specialty Coffee won the coffee of our Ethiopian farmer, Leikun Zegeye, in competition with other global companies.
On August 27, 2024, one of the most anticipated specialty coffee auctions took place—the auction of Ethiopian super coffees. Ethiopia is a preferred supplier of specialty coffee worldwide. Our renowned farmer, Leikun Zegeye from Karamo Coffee, who won 1st place in the same competition in 2020, participated in the auction organized by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence. Our Ethiopian coffees come from their family farm, Karamo. It is no coincidence that our “Ethiopia By DABOV,” which represents the best taste of Ethiopia, is cultivated by Leikun.
The coffee we managed to acquire was grown at an altitude of 2300 meters above sea level. The high altitude has a significant positive impact on coffee cultivation, resulting in coffee with very balanced fruity and sweet chocolate notes, a full body, and a long aftertaste. We eagerly await the arrival of this exceptional batch from our farmer Leikun, which was scored 87.46 points by the international jury at COE.
This year’s auction was highly competitive. About 40% of the coffees went to China, another 49% to Saudi Arabia, 4 coffees to Japan, 1 to Korea, 1 to Bulgaria, and 1 to Italy—for the Lavazza group. Excluding the giant Lavazza, we—DABOV Specialty Coffee—were the only small European coffee roaster to participate in the auction.
Why is it important for us to participate in COE auctions and support the farmers?
Our path has long been tied to offering better and better coffee every day, day after day. Ten years ago, we decided that the only way to support the sustainable development of the coffee-producing regions is to buy the best coffees from COE auctions and spread the idea of better coffees, knowing that the effort a farmer puts into achieving this high accolade is a matter of years of desire, will, and effort. We believe it is fair for these efforts to be duly rewarded and for farmers to be motivated, as only a few coffees in the world possess the impressive flavor qualities required to reach the Cup of Excellence competition, and only a handful occupy the top positions. Such an achievement is the result of enormous effort from the farmers in cultivating their plantations, as well as the love they put in daily. This love always shows.
Each COE auction consists of two parts: a competition, where all the qualifying coffees are evaluated, and an auction, where the coffees with the highest scores participate. Every year, thousands of farmers apply for participation, but only a limited number are granted this privilege—only those who have truly shown the will, diligence, and motivation to create the highest quality product.
The competition proceeds in two stages, with the jury evaluating the coffees “blindly,” without knowing who the producers are. When judging the coffees, the judges must evaluate aspects such as roast color, aroma, defects, cup clarity, sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel, flavor, aftertaste, balance, and overall impression from just three fine sips. The jury’s scorecards record scores between 0 and 8, where zero is for “unacceptable” and the maximum score is for “excellent.” Only coffees that score 87 or above on the hundred-point scale participate in the Cup of Excellence.
When the competition ends, the farmers “release” their coffee at auctions, where traders from around the world can bid on it.
