2020 Ethiopian Coffee Beans COE Cup of Excellence COE22 Arsi

What is COE?

COE stands for "Cup of Excellence", the ultimate award for a perfectly executed cup, sometimes called the "COE Excellence Cup." The competition was first staged in Brazil in 1999 by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) and remains the most renowned and authoritative specialty coffee competition in the world.

The COE Competition Process

The COE competition is typically held annually, organized country by country, and usually narrows a field of some 500 estates down to fewer than 30 finalists. Entrants must carefully select 25 to 35 bags of roughly 60 kilograms each to submit for the committee's evaluation. Judging runs through three stages, and only coffees scoring above 87 points that rank in the top 30 advance to the final COE auction, where the lots are sold to the highest bidders. The top bid of the year becomes that year's COE "champion."

COE Quality Standards

69 points or below: slightly inferior commercial or industrial-grade coffee.

70 to 74 points: standard commercial coffee.

75 to 79 points: superior commercial coffee, generally referred to as premium commercial grade.

80 to 84 points: specialty coffee.

85 points and above: COE competition level, the winning coffees of the Excellence Cup and the highest quality tier currently recognized by the international coffee community.

2020: Ethiopia's First COE Competition

2020 was a landmark year for Ethiopian coffee, as the country officially became the 13th member country of COE. FrontStreet Coffee successfully bid on the 22nd-place West Arsi natural Typica from the 2020 COE, which scored 87.64 points.

West Arsi lies in the western part of the Sidamo region at elevations of 1900 to 2200m. This coffee was grown by Adem Banta Stue, and his result in the competition was the reward for years of hard work. Before entering, he had never sold his coffee on the open market. The sale brought new hope to his family, and stands as new hope for Ethiopian coffee farmers as a whole.

COE22 West Arsi Natural Typica

The COE22 West Arsi natural Typica that FrontStreet Coffee acquired is a delicious, high-quality variety still cultivated around the world today. From its origins in Africa, spreading to small-scale plantings in Yunnan in Asia and onward to the Americas, Typica typically shows citrus acidity with a sweet aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cupping Notes for COE22

Dry Aroma: Citrus

Wet Aroma: Citrus; Floral

Flavor: Citrus; Lychee; Honey; Cream; Wine-like; Mango; Strawberry

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the story of COE's 1999 debut in Brazil has you curious about the world's largest coffee-producing country, Brazil's coffees offer remarkable variety: moderate acidity and an excellent balance of sweetness, bitterness, and body make them ideal for medium roasting, which brings out a nutty fragrance and a mellow, softly acidic cup suited to both single origin and blends.

For a first taste of the region, FrontStreet recommends its pulped natural Cerrado, a classic Brazilian single origin. Cerrado is one of the country's most famous growing regions, known for consistently high-quality beans, and this lot is a Red Bourbon, a variety common across South America. At a medium roast it shows rich aromas of creamy peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut, with a rounded, non-acidic body and a light bitter finish, versatile enough for pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press.

Another standout is the FrontStreet Brazil Fazenda Imperador (Empress Estate) Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, near southern Minas. The fertile red volcanic soil there feeds the cherries abundant nutrients and builds full, developed aromatics. Yellow Bourbon, a mutation of Red Bourbon, delivers cleaner fruit character, and through pour-over, moka pot, or a home espresso machine you can taste a sugarcane sweetness plus fruit and chocolate notes that few other origins offer.

Brazil's low acidity, balance, and approachable price also make it a staple of espresso blending: FrontStreet's classic blend (rich crema), nutty premium blend, well-balanced Black Cocoa blend favored by many baristas, and the café-focused commercial blend all contain Brazilian components. The Brazil beans contribute chocolate and cream aromatics along with gentle sweet-sour-bitter structure, and their even tonality supports extraction stability.