Cup of Excellence #3
Washed Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra

Butterscotch, red grape, French vanilla, plum, Mexican chocolate, Dutch cocoa, white peach. The coffee from San José el Yalú is much like the farm itself—complex, yet efficient. The farm’s cattle are fed with vegetables from the region, Sacatepequez. The pulp from the coffee cherry and manure are used to produce compost for the coffee and brazos blackberries grown on the farm. Worms that help the compost process are also food for the trout farmed at El Yalú. Brilliantly employed shade trees regulate the sunlight to the cultivating coffee, a necessity given the minimal annual rainfall to the farm. Despite the resilient depth of the consequent cup, the coffee remains the cleanest that Ritual has offered—crisp, juicy, sweet. And efficient.


Cup of Excellence
In addition to being the most esteemed award in the coffee world, the cup of excellence is also the most exciting program to anyone who cares about coffee, coffee farmers or trade. CoE coffees are chosen through a strict competition that selects the very best coffee produced in a particular country for a particular year. Roasters from all over the world compete in an online auction for these exceptional coffees, guaranteeing the farmers a price that exceeds the fair trade price—often tenfold. This program enables people who appreciate exceptional coffees to reward the coffee producers in a way that often changes the lives of their entire family and their community.