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vocal producers singing the praises of the COE: Not only does the auction platform guarantee a good price at the time of the competition, but the status that comes with placing high in a COE competition puts producers on the specialty-coffee map. It certainly has for Aida. Over her years in coffee, with the ICO, the CDG, the Gourmet Project, and the COE, Susie has worked assiduously for the success of the program on behalf of small coffee farmers. Her background is in marketing—she didn't have to commit the way she did to a nonprofit. Had she not, however, COE certainly wouldn't be the revered program that it is, for producers, roasters, and baristas around the world. I asked Susie what her legacy was—what she would like to be remembered for in this industry, and she couldn't think of an answer. She e-mailed me later though when she remembered something—it was an e-mail from Jorge Valverde of Bolivia attached with a photo. The e-mail said, "Attached you'll find a picture of the daughter of a Bolivian farmer, Celso Mayta. Celso participated in all Cup of Excellences, and always ended up among the finalists. The program was very, very good to him, and so he decided to name his daughter after you. Her name is Susie, and she is about 3." Sarah Allen: Please tell us about how the Cup of Excellence came into being, and what the original goals were. Susie Spindler: The Gourmet Project was designed to help five countries understand how to receive more money for their coffee. The countries were Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil. The idea was to work with farmers to improve quality resulting in the marketplace paying more. The project hired three quality consultants working with the farmers (Jan van Hilton for Africa, Mick Wheeler for Papua New Guinea, and George Howell for Brazil) along with three marketing people (Hidetaka Hayashi for Japan, Alf Kramer for Europe, and me for all of North America). This is when I met George Howell and Mr. Hayashi along with Silvio Leite, Marcelo Vieira of BSCA [Brazil Specialty Coffee Association] and Don Holly of SCAA, who would all play an instrumental role in developing the first competition and auction. The belief that Brazil could not produce specialty coffee was so widely held that even great coffee did not persuade a change of heart. Deciding that a competition in Brazil might be a useful tool to change the minds of buyers the next likely question was: What is in it for the farmers? Certificates do not buy groceries—cash does. Slowly, a plan developed to auction the winners to the highest bidder Problem was, no one had ever created an Internet auction for coffee, so Don Holly and I spent a few days with Malcolm Stone, and helped build that first platform. We could have just awarded a cash prize and not tried to sell the coffees, but looking back, I am glad we didn't since the pricing structure for all great coffees would have remained unchanged. George was first head judge, and mostly selected the first jury. Working with BSCA and others he created the first competition protocols. The first jury used the SCAA cupping form and crossed out the column for acidity since Brazil was not known for large amounts of acidity. It was a little disconcerting to me at the time and was one of the many reasons why in 2001 George created a new form that scored the "quality" not the "quantity" of body and acidity. There were 10 coffees chosen that first year—the cut-off score was 80 points—and most amusing now is that the winning farmers Clockwise from top le : Susie awards Aida Batlle first place in the 2003 El Salvador Cup of Excellence; Susie with longtime colleague and COE supporter Hidetaka Hayashi of Japan; Susie and her original partner in COE, George Howell; Susie poses for a photo with frequent COE juror, Kentaro Maruyama. 85 www.baristamagazine.com B o o k 4 7 - 9 2 . i n d d 8 5 Book 47-92.indd 85 5 / 1 5 / 1 4 1 0 : 4 7 P M 5/15/14 10:47 PM