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2020 Ethiopian Coffee Beans COE Cup of Excellence COE22 Arsi

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, COE stands for Cup of Excellence, meaning a perfect cup of coffee, also known as the COE Cup of Excellence. The COE competition was first held in Brazil in 1999 by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and is currently the most renowned and authoritative specialty coffee bean competition in the world. The COE competition is typically held annually, organized by country (usually selecting from 500 farms down to fewer than 30 finalists),

What is COE?

COE stands for "Cup of Excellence," meaning a perfect cup of coffee, also known as the "COE Excellence Cup." The COE competition was first held in Brazil in 1999 by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and is currently the most renowned and authoritative specialty coffee bean competition in the world.

The COE Competition Process

The COE competition is typically held annually, organized by country (usually filtering from 500 estates to fewer than 30 finalists). Participants need to carefully select 25-35 bags of approximately 60 kilograms each of coffee beans to submit for evaluation by the committee. The entire competition process undergoes three stages of judging. Only beans that score above 87 points and rank in the top 30 can advance to the final COE auction, where they are sold through bidding. The highest bid becomes the "champion" of that year's COE.

COE Quality Standards

Total score of 69 or below: Belongs to slightly inferior commercial beans or industrial-grade coffee beans.

Total score between 70-74: Belongs to standard commercial beans.

Total score between 75-79: Belongs to superior commercial beans, generally referred to as premium commercial beans.

Total score between 80-84: Belongs to specialty coffee.

Total score of 85 or above: Belongs to COE competition-level, also the winning coffees of the Excellence Cup, representing the highest quality category currently recognized by the international coffee community.

2020 Ethiopia's First COE Excellence Cup Competition

The year 2020 was memorable for Ethiopia's COE Excellence Cup, as Ethiopia officially became the 13th member country of COE. FrontStreet Coffee successfully bid on the 22nd place West Arsi natural Typica from the 2020 COE, scoring 87.64 points.

West Arsi is located in the western part of the Sidamo region, at an elevation of 1900-2200m. This particular coffee was grown by Adem Banta Stue. His achievement in this competition represents the reward for his hard work. Before participating in this competition, he had never entered the market. This reward brings new hope to his family and also represents new hope for Ethiopian coffee farmers.

COE22 West Arsi Natural Typica

The COE22 West Arsi natural Typica that FrontStreet Coffee acquired represents a delicious, high-quality coffee variety still cultivated worldwide today. From its origins in Africa, spreading to small-scale cultivation in Yunnan, Asia, and then to the Americas, Typica often exhibits citrus acidity with a sweet aftertaste.