Using ESDA to assess the quality of coffee in Central America Cup of Excellence? Using ESDA to assess the quality of coffee in Central America

The Coffee Paradox A ‘coffee boom’ in consuming countries and a ‘coffee crisis’ in producing countries Paradox within the Paradox International Coffee Market has too much ‘low quality’ coffee Sales growth is in ‘high quality’ – fair trade, organic, etc “Because of the importance of cup characteristics in evaluating the quality of coffee, market operators never really succeeded in collectively defining objective quality criteria and way of measuring them, although steps have been taken in this direction.” (Daviron and Ponte, pg. 69)

The Coffee Flavor Wheel Created in 2003 by the Cup of Excellence Organization Started by a group of dedicated coffee connoisseurs Supported by Various National governments and NGOs Described as the “Oscars for Coffee” Competition Rules/Regulations Farmers submit coffee for judging Coffee judged by an international jury of coffee experts Experts are trained to follow the Coffee Flavor Wheel Central American Countries Featured El Salvador (2003-2009) Nicaragua (2003-2009) Honduras (2004-2009) Guatemala (2006-2009) Costa Rica (2007-2009)

Data Description Identity Environment Coffee Competition Farm Farmer City Region Country Farm Size (hectares) Coffee Growing Area (hectares) Altitude (meters above sea level) Certification Variety Processing System Lot Size (bags/boxes) Jury Score (80-100) Rank Cupping # Winning Bidder Price/lb 2003 Price/lb Jury Descriptors

Distributions Environmental Variables Competition Variables

Scatterplots of Environmental Variables to Score and Price

Bivariate of 2003 Dollars by Jury Score

Bivariate of 2003 Dollars by Rank

Treemap of Winners From 2007 through 2009

Scatterplot of Rank, Score, and Price by Jury Descriptor Variables

Wordle of Rank 1 Winners

Wordle of Ranks 2-10 Winners

Wordle of Ranks 11 and above Winners