Specialty coffee from Venda Nova do Imigrante wins Cup of Excellence for first time
At just 20 years of age, Luiz Ricardo Bozzi Pimenta de Sousa has been declared the winner of the Cup of Excellence – Brazil 2020. His coffee was selected out of 30 specialty coffees in the world’s top-quality coffee competition, put together by the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE).
Mr Sousa’s coffee comes from “Sítio Escondica”, in the Venda Nova do Imigrante region of the mountainous region of the coffee-producing state of Espírito Santo /n Southeast Brazil. The 20- year-old, who graduated as an agricultural technician, competed for the first time in the coffee competition and comes from a coffee family of small producers, who for years have been dedicated to the cultivation of peeled coffees in Espírito Santo’s mountainous region.
“To maintain Brazil’s tradition of sustainably producing much of the world’s highest-quality coffee, we have introduced and developed succession plans for families. Mr Sousa is one of a new super young generation of producers, following in the footsteps of their parents in coffee and in life, entering with values and principles to win and conquer new opportunities. This is a reason of great pride for us, who see this new generation arriving, trained and qualified, so that we can pass on the baton to continue flying the flag of exceptional Brazilian coffee quality,” said Vanusia Nogueira, director of BSCA.
Runner-up was Evandro Passos Clementino, who also competed for the first time and hails from a tradition of family of coffee farmers. He scored 89.71 points for his coffee in “Sítio Boa Vista”, in Cambuquira, in the Denomination of Origin of the Mantiqueira de Minas (Minas Gerais State). Mantiqueira is another mountainous coffee-producing region known for its excellence in coffee.
The other 28 winners came from six producing origins: Matas de Minas, Sul de Minas, DO Cerrado Mineiro, Chapada Diamantina (BA), besides DO Mantiqueira de Minas and Montanhas do Espírito Santo.
“The number of winners was restricted to 30 this year and the very best in the country were carefully selected out of the diverse quality of coffee producers in Brazil. We received more than 600 samples and, after the pre-selection and National Phase, we arrived at 30 winners, who produce coffees from 11 distinct varieties grown in 22 municipalities of six producing origins in the country,” said Nogueira.
The 30 winners of the Cup of Excellence – Brazil 2020 will participate in an online international auction on 10 December 2020.
For the full list of winners, visit: cupofexcellence.org/brazil-2020. and to watch the award ceremony on BSCA’s Youtube channel, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTixyMiRhVM.
