Esmerlda Auction

[Steve]

LOL the auction stuck at $99.99 a lb as they never thought to make the software go to three figures Last years price was $50 a lb so with reason I suppose.

Interesting discussions taking place about the rest of the auction that hasn't gone to those highs and the average price being quite low in places. All very interesting for the industry.

http://auction.stoneworks.com/observer_ ... n=50601000

[kingseven]

Actually I think it is more interesting from a consumer point of view. It will soon ask a very interesting question:

How much would everyone here ever consider spending on 250g of coffee?

[marionhaste]

What makes the Esmeralda so specal, Steve? Do tell ...

[bruceb]

I don't think there's anything else like it!

[Steve]

Its a very special coffee that is one of the most distinct coffees I've ever tatsed. Very fruity peach like thats sublte yet vibrant. Very wow. $99.99 wow not so sure its interesting to see where it goes.

[CakeBoy]

Good point Jim/Steve, how long before it prices itself out of the market and then what? Damn good coffee though

[kingseven]

I loved what I tasted last year (thanks again Steve) but even then it wasn't $50 of wow (green) - which is about $100/lb shipped/roasted/packed. Is this year's twice as good? If the bidding restarts then will it be worth even more than that.

I'll tell you what - you wouldn't half mess your knickers every time you dropped a load into the roaster.... $1000 of coffee+ at a time must make you quite nervous!

[kingseven]

$130/lb it is then!

[CakeBoy]

Bloody hell that is a lot of money. Good point about the roasting too, Steve would have sleepess nights over it .......

Seriously though, can $130/lb really be sustained? Next year's auction is likely to become a parody of this year's version, just as this year's appears to have of last. In the end, the whole thing becomes a pressure test of having to 'beat' last year's Esme price in order to demonstrate perceived advancements in quality, rather than a chance to profile and present all of the year's best Panamanian coffees to the world. It will surely eventually be seen as fadishly unbalanced as the Esme thing overshadows all else and bring itself into disrepute?

[kingseven]

What would be really interesting is to see someone else unknown take the top spot from Esmeralda and to see what that goes for - this would kind of define whether we are just creating another Datera/La Minita/JBM scenario where it is as much about the name as it is about the quality or whether it is just about superb coffee from Panama....

[Steve]

I think Esmerelda is so different it will always win. On the cupping table you would always find it and thats why it does so well for my mind. Everyone knows what it is and how much it is loved.

$130 hey nothing like a well run auction to inspire confidence, close it open it close it

I think there is superb coffee from every producing country its finding them. I think Esmerlda people seem to understand the importance of the brand, and are very careful about the quality, which is kind of unique.

One interesting thing from this comp is the size of the lots tiny lots, makes it very accessible.

[Olings]

How does the Best of Panama competition differentiate from the CoE Steve? Maybe these kind of auctions where one coffee is much higher priced than the number two is a signal that one should change the way the winner is selected. I don't have a clue as to how that should be done though, and in the end it is the market that dictates.

I'm only concerned wether this is any good for the overall coffee production in Panama. How does the price of the number two coffee compare to the recent number two coffees in the different CoE competitions?


Ola

[Steve]

Good points Olings

I think you need to look deeper than the headline prices of the first few, its easy to get carried away with two serious bidders leading the way. The COE has built on high number one prices too, but unlike the Best of Panama the whole auction has good prices. For instance lot 20 in this Panama auction went for $1.95 a lb fob., Compare that to lot 20 from the last COE auction in Colombia (a few weeks ago) that went for $6.45 a lb fob. Also 12 of the 25 lots were bought by one company hardly going to roll it out to the masses. Although two of the lots are being shared between 14 roasters so you could say it will be around.

But after all of this the most important thing to come from these competitions is the long term relationships that can be built. Lots of out south American coffees come from previous award winners who then spark up a relationship with our importer, its a great thing that pays a high price long term.

Headlines are all well and good and I agree with raising the quality bar of a country, but that needs to be rewarded to many and not a few to have any sustainability.

[CakeBoy]

That is quite a price difference. You have to worry that the BOP will become perceived (rightly or wrongly) as a one trick pony rather than something to be looked forward to as a showcase for all the finest coffees of the (then) current Panamanian crop.

There is no one superstar of the particular COE auctions and any number of well known growers/farms have a good chance of winning in any given year. If the COE is the FA Premier League of coffee with several contenders, then the BOP appears to me to be the Scottish Premier League of coffee competitions ..... and Esme is its Glasgow Celtic

[Steve]

If the COE is the FA Premier League of coffee with several contenders, then the BOP appears to me to be the Scottish Premier League of coffee competitions ..... and Esme is its Glasgow Celtic

I like that a lot, but then I would