The Alliance for Coffee Excellence and M-Cultivo have launched an e-commerce platform to sell Cup of Excellence submissions that score 86 points and higher.
BY KATRINA YENTCH
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Cover photo courtesy of Alliance for Coffee Excellence
It’s getting easier and easier to buy good green coffee. Specialty-coffee principles of transparency and traceability are just a click away thanks to the internet, and no longer is it necessary to venture to origin to scope out the most exquisite coffees in the world. Recently, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence and M-Cultivo have joined forces to make the buying process that much more seamless for Cup of Excellence coffees.
Shop for Coffee on M-Cultivo
M-Cultivo is an e-commerce platform for buying high-scoring green Cup of Excellence micro-lot coffees. Launched earlier this month, ACE and M-Cultivo worked together with the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association to make 100 out of the 140 top-scoring coffees available to the public for purchase. In other words, these were coffees that proved to be noticeably outstanding at 86-88 points, but did not make it into the final 40.
”We launched this platform because we wanted to be able to provide a place for these farmers to sell their coffees who didn’t make auction,” explains Darrin Daniel, executive director of Alliance for Coffee Excellence. ”Often time after the competitions take place, there isn’t anywhere for them to go, or they have to find alternate ways to sell them.” In providing a place for these coffees, ACE and M-Cultivo hope to offer another sales outlet for submissions that are still exceptionally good. Additionally, they hope to make buying more accessible for roasters who may not have been able to afford auction pricing, but still want to offer something unique for their customers.
How to Make an Account
In order to access the platform, you do not need to be an ACE member. All you have to do is create a login account on the M-Cultivo marketplace, in which you provide basic account details and how much coffee you would be interested in ordering. Participating logistics coordinators include Sancoffee and Anthem Coffee Imports. In the event that certain coffees do not sell, Falcon Coffee has also agreed to take on a select numbers of these coffees for their own clients.
The first country participating in the M-Cultivo marketplace is Brazil, which will serve as a test run before other countries’ coffees are incorporated into the platform. After the marketplace closes on December 10, the coffees will ship in December. The coffees are also vetted by long-standing professionals who have cupped them; you can read about their credentials here.
It is currently available to buyers in North America and the EU, with plans to expand later on. While the opportunity to be featured in the marketplace was optional, the platform currently offers 30 unique coffees from the Brazil Select competition.
Brazil Select on Tour
To promote the concept, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence recently hosted a Brazil Select Tour to give everyone a chance at tasting these coffees before potential purchase, and even further: to showcase Cup of Excellence coffees to a wider audience. The Portland, Ore., date had an exciting handful of natural and pulped natural coffees, which proved to be a (delicious) trend amongst most of this year’s submissions for Brazil. The final date is in Vancouver, Canada, this Saturday, November 20. Registration details are here.
Good Coffee for the Holidays
The M-Cultivo platform serves as a perfect outlet to buy some last-minute ”luxurious” green coffee for the holidays. It is becoming increasingly popular to offer higher-quality coffees during this time, and for roasters who can’t quite afford a Gesha or Wush Wush for their clientele, these may be just as delicious of a compromise.
To register for the marketplace, apply here. You can also take a peek at the current offerings here.
