As BeanCurious celebrates the anniversary of our premium line of coffee beans – The Curious Collection, BeanCurious is ready to take all coffee aficionados to dive into the world of coffee auctions where these special beans can be found.
While wine has the Decanter World Wine Awards, and restaurants have the Michelin guide, coffee has auctions. Coffee auctions have been around for decades, presided over by professional baristas and judges to find the best coffees and award the producers financially.
There are multiple auctions held annually around the world, some of the most lauded being the Cup of Excellence, which takes place in multiple countries, Taste of Rwanda and Operation Cherry Red. For coffee buyers, the auctions are nail-biting events where if the buyers play their cards right, they can land beans no other shop or supplier in their region can offer.
“Coffee auctions not only provide guaranteed high quality coffees, but they are also a stage for new processing technologies that demonstrates the potential for innovation in our market,
says Anthony Kwong, CQI QE Lecturer, SCA Authorized Trainer, Licensed Q Arabica and Q Robusta Grader from Wah Shing Coffee Ltd.
When a specialty coffee auction takes place, invitations are sent to the top coffee producers to submit 300kg of their processed beans. The submissions are then locked up in a warehouse for the duration of the auction.
Samples of each submission are tasted (cupped) by an international panel of experts. Six to seven rounds of blind tastings are held, giving points to each coffee. To avoid personal preferences, the beans are scored based on taste profiles and quality. Once the blind tastings are complete, points are assigned and the average score is used to determine the top 20 finalists. A write-up of the farm’s production process, tasting notes and score are made for each coffee to be put up for auction.
In pre-pandemic days, the auction of the final 20 beans would be on-site events held by the hosting exporters, NGOs, or other industry stakeholders. Producers and buyers would meet in person, inspect the farms, hold cupping sessions, and then bid at the auction itself. These on-site auctions, although personable and relationship strengthening, are often costly for both the farm and buyer. Today, producers have more flexibility to access the international green coffee market with online auctions — buyers from around the world tune in to virtual auctions and bid on the top scoring beans.
A few weeks before the virtual auction begins, buyers (i.e. the local coffee roaster) can order a cupping kit of the final 20, usually around US$ 1,000. These kits contain samples of beans that bidders can roast and taste for themselves before biding.
On the big day, buyers go online to bid in the global auction in real-time. With competing bids coming in globally, many bidders stay up late into the night, watching their monitors with anticipation. With a bit of luck and strategy, even small roasters can land huge wins at auction, grabbing some truly unique, wild tasting coffees that nobody else can offer.
The Curious Collection by BeanCurious showcases many top beans that were won at auctions. The curious can try the floral Operation Cherry Red winner from Ethiopia, the fruity, woman-led BufCoffee won at Taste of Rwanda 2022 or the eco-friendly innovator El Cipres from El Salvador.
For enquiries or subscriptions, please visit https://beancurious.com/product/hk-coffee-subscriptions-ii/.
