Roland continues his travels in Costa Rica. He seems to be making lots of friends, but not getting much of a tan

 

Time has flown in Costa Rica – it doesn’t seem like my seventh day here, with less than two days before I head back to Britain. Today was the second round of the Cup of Excellence. Of the 60 coffees that were presented to the International Jury, 41 made it through to the second round. Starting at 8am, we finished our 5 cupping sessions at 6pm having scored all 41. Over night, the back room team will collate the scores, to identify the top 10 that we will then cup again tomorrow to give more detailed feedback on.

The range of coffees we have tasted this week has been huge – I’m looking forward to tomorrow when I’ll be able to put a name to the farms that grow these coffees. That will also be a bit sad, as it’s the last day with the other jury members – it’s been great to get to know fantastic coffee professionals from all over the world (the photos are me with the two National Jury members who joined the International Jury – Jose Javier Carmona and Jose Pablo Juarez).