World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic announces a new set of auctions for El Salvador and Honduras – Project Origin: Best Ofs
Project Origin is an Australian-based green coffee importer founded by 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic from Ona Coffee to find and promote great coffees, support coffee farmers, and bring those great coffees to market. In effort to support the specialty-coffee industry and educate coffee professionals on the work at coffee origin, while building two-way relationships, Project Origin has just announced two “Best Of” auctions for 2016.
The first auction is set for May 2 “8 in El Salvador, while the second is scheduled for July 4 “July 10 in Honduras. Project Origin is actively looking for cuppers and attendees to travel to Honduras and El Salvador for the events. You can apply and find out more by emailing Habib Maarbani, habib@onacoffee.com.au. (They say, “Please include ‘Project Origin Best Of Auction’ in the subject heading, and let us know a bit about yourself and why you would like to attend.”
The cuppings are set to work like this:
Before the auction week, entries will be put through a preselection process by a national jury in each country and cut down to the best 35 “40 coffees scoring 84+ points. Those will then be judged by the international jury at the Project Origin Best Of Auction in each country.
On the final day, coffees will be auctioned off so that these exceptional crops and the stories of their producers can be shared across the globe. The auction will include an online bidding system for those who cannot physically attend.
After the auctions, Project Origin will assist with importing coffees to your destinations.
For attendees, the organizers say they are looking for:
- Passionate specialty-coffee industry members looking to purchase exceptional coffees
- Experienced cuppers
- Previous judges of international competitions
- Roasters wanting to establish direct trade relationships
- Roasters wanting to increase their knowledge and share with producers
- New cuppers looking to improve knowledge and develop further
In explaining why they’ve launched these auctions in these particular locations, the organizers explain, “In El Salvador we have several long term partners and really great relationships with Gilberto Baraona, Jorge Raul Rivera, and Mauricio Salaverria. Through our connection with them we’ve decided to create this event to further support the great work and great product that comes from this country.”
The Best of El Salvador by Project Origin is a not-for-profit organization and they will invite coffee producers who have been in the ˜Top 15′ of the Cup of Excellence (CoE) in El Salvador, previously. The Best of El Salvador by Project Origin Board includes: Sasa Sestic, Gilberto Baraona, Jorge Raul Rivera, and Mauricio Salaverria.
In Honduras, the effort will focus on late harvest coffees such as those from El Cielito Mountain in the Santa Barbara region which have won a 6 of the last 8 CoEs with an average score of 91.56. The organizers say, “Realizing that the unique microclimate means many farmers here are picking exceptional crop from March onwards but it will never see representation at the Cup of Excellence auctions due to timing alone Sasa decided to create the Late Harvest auction.”
The event will be run with the support of IHCAFE, the Honduras government, Benjamin Paz, the Lanza family and the Sestic family.