Coffee Board has launched the "Flavour of India - The Fine Cup Award Cupping Competition" during 2002 with an objective of promoting production of fine quality coffees. So far four competitions have been organized, which were very successful in showcasing the fine coffees from India in the international market. Many of the prize-winning coffees have been bought by specialty coffee roasters worldwide at very attractive premiums.
The fifth Cupping Competition-2007 is organized as a regional level competition. The coffee samples received for the competition will be categorized under their regional origin and will be coded accordingly. The best coffees from each of the 13 coffee growing regions of India will be selected by a team of experienced cup tasters at National level. The outstanding coffees from among the selected coffees at National level will be selected for the award by the International Jury at the finals of the "Flavour of India - Cupping Competition-2007".
Unlike the previous competitions this year the "Flavour of India-Cupping Competition" for Arabica category is associated with the events of the oncoming
India International Coffee Festival-2007. The Cupping Competition for the Robusta category has been scheduled during the month of March 2007. The final round of Robusta Cupping Competition-2007 will be held during SCAA Annual Conference and Exhibition at Long Beach, California.
The samples were invited from different coffee growing regions of India. A total of 140 Arabica samples were received for the competition during this year comprising 100 Arabica (washed and unwashed), 9 Mysore Nuggets Extra Bold (MNEB), 5 Organic Arabica, 10 Estate Branded coffees, 6 Monsooned coffees and 10 Pulped Sun Dried.
The coffee samples were analyzed for Physical/Visual quality based on the colour, smell, size and defects found in the beans on 2nd of February 2007.
The samples are also evaluated for cup quality by an experienced panel of cup tasters representing Coffee Board as well as industry who select the best tasting coffees to be qualified for the final round of Cupping. The preliminary round of cupping of the coffee samples has commenced on 8th February, 2007. The International jury analyses the coffees in the final round to select the best coffees from India under the following categories:-
1) Fine Cup awards - 3 No. (Finest in Arabica, Robusta & Specialty categories)
2) Best specialty coffee awards - 4 No. (Best MNEB, Best RKR, Best Monsooned Coffee, Best Organic Coffee)
3) Best Arabica and robusta from growing regions that enter final round
4) Special awards: Best Arabica cherry, Best Robusta cherry, Best Organic Robusta, Best Pulped Sun Dried coffee, Estate Branded coffee, Best Arabica and Robusta from small growers "10 ha) category.
5) Certificate of merit: for coffees reaching fmals but not winning any awards.
The most notable feature of this year competition is that there is a widespread representation of the coffee growing regions as well as more number of Arabica samples compared to previous years.
The region wise break up of the Arabica coffee entries for this year compared to last year is furnished below:-
| YEAR |
SS |
Siligiris |
Chikmagalur |
Coorg |
Manjarabad |
ArakuValley |
Sheveroys |
Anamalais |
Pulneys |
Travancor |
Nilgiri |
WD |
| 2007 |
23 |
1 |
21 |
26 |
14 |
8 |
28 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
| 2006 |
10 |
1 |
15 |
23 |
10 |
13 |
14 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
