Some 43 Cup of Excellence winning farmers auctioned their coffee on the internet in early December, a 50 per cent increase in winners from over last year’s programme. The average prices achieved were five times higher than the New York “C” market, with the price per pound reaching almost $3.00, Cup of Excellence said.

Japanese trade house Maruyama Coffee, bidding on behalf of several roasters in the Mikatajuku Group, bought the top winning lot for $10.15 per pound.

Other gold medal winners were acquired by UK-based Mercanta, The Coffee Hunters for a group of European roasters, by Norway’s Solberg & Hansen (which has bought in every Cup of Excellence auction), US specialty roasters Diedrich Coffee Co and San Antonio Coffee Roasters, as well as Japanese firms Bontain Coffee Co, Toa Coffee Co and Wataru, which was bidding for roaster Toho Coffee.

Cup of Excellence has held 10 auctions in the five years since the programme began, in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Brazil, and has sold every lot at a premium price.