1. 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

2. 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)

3. 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 ( )
Nicaragua ( )
Honduras ( )
Guatemala ( )
Costa Rica ( )

4. 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

5. Distributions
Environmental Variables
Competition Variables

6. Scatterplots of Environmental Variables to Score and Price

7. Bivariate of 2003 Dollars by Jury Score

8. Bivariate of 2003 Dollars by Rank

9. Treemap of Winners From 2007 through 2009

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

11. Wordle of Rank 1 Winners

12. Wordle of Ranks 2-10 Winners

13. Wordle of Ranks 11 and above Winners