Coffee hybrid developed by CATIE wins 3rd place in Cup of Excellence 2022

• The Cup of Excellence, in Costa Rica, is the most important national competition for high quality coffees.

July 6, 2022. The Cup of Excellence competition is today the most prestigious award for high quality coffees in Costa Rica. During three weeks, thousands of cups are evaluated and presented in national and international eliminations to determine the best coffee in the country.

For this 2022 and for the first time, the hybrid Milenio, developed jointly by CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), the French Center for International Agronomic Cooperation for Development (CIRAD) and PROMECAFE, took third place in the competition, achieving a Presidential award; that is, a score of 90 points. Milenio was produced by John Alvarado, from the Corazón de Jesús mill in the Brunca region, and used an anaerobic process. The judges highlighted it for its cocoa, strawberry, juicy and honey notes.

This year confirms as the second occasion in which a hybrid generated at CATIE obtains such important recognition in the Cup of Excellence since, in 2017, the Central American hybrid achieved second place in Nicaragua, with a score of 90.5.  

According to William Solano, researcher in plant genetic resources of the Agro-forestry and Coffee and Cocoa Genetic Improvement Unit of CATIE, this event ratifies that the hybrids, in addition to their high productivity, tolerance to diseases and resilience to adverse weather conditions, also have excellent cup quality that leads them to obtain the first places in high value national and international competitions.

Since the 1990's, through organizations such as CATIE, a genetic improvement program has been developed in Central America, allowing the development of diverse hybrids, with the objective of expanding the genetic base of coffee cultivation to allow greater resistance to rust and other diseases; greater vegetative vigor and high productivity; better adaptability to difficult environments; and larger bean size.