FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Missoula, MT (May, 27, 2007) - “A multi-dimensional coffee that is sweet and extremely aromatic with a crisp, bright and lively body, round acidity, and topped with citrus notes.” So describes the winning coffee at the 2007 Nicaragua Cup of Excellence® competition held this past April in Ocotol, Nicaragua.

The top coffee, Las Golondrinas, from Marcio Benjamin Peralta Paguaga, received a score of 94.84 out of 100, the highest score given to a Nicaraguan coffee in the past six years of participation in the COE competition.

The competition was the culmination of a three-week event in which national and international juries gathered to evaluate more than 350 coffees. From April 21 through April 25, 2007, the final International Jury convened in Ocotol to cup the top lots of coffee.

During the final round, Las Golondrinas competed against 34 coffees, each of which had been cupped a minimum of five times throughout the competition process. These winning coffees were evaluated by the International Jury in late April, with six lots receiving scores over 90, garnering them the Presidential Award.

Overall, jury members noted that the coffees presented for cupping this year were an indictor of the breadth of quality that is available from Nicaragua. “We feel that the quality coffees we cupped here could definitely change the way Nicaragua coffee is viewed within the market,” explains Silvio Leite, the head judge for this event “ Uniqueness and high quality will now come to mind when we speak of Nicaraguan coffees.”

Since its inception, the Cup of Excellence program has been instrumental in helping bring to market previously undiscovered regions of quality coffee production. The Ocotol region, is one such region, and provided the ideal backdrop for the 6th annual international Nicaraguan competition.

Throughout the competition, the Nicaraguan coffee community welcomed the COE jury participants with a familial hospitality. Support was widespread and included many large mills, cooperatives and even the horse breeder’s association. Because the winning farm is located just a handful of kilometers from where the awards ceremony took place, when La Golondrinas was named at the 2000 Cup of Excellence winner, the awards ceremony erupted in excitement.

Rounding out the top five wining lots are: La Union, Donaldo Vanegas Cruz (91.58); Villa Fontuna, Daniel Matute Lopez (90.76); La Termopilas, Prodecoorp R.L. (90.58); and Santa Isabel, Jaime Armando Lovo (90.55). All 34 lots received a score of 84 or higher.

Samples are currently available of winning lots scheduled for auction June 6, 2007.

Since it’s beginnings in 1999, the Cup of Excellence® program has hosted programs in Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia and Colombia. The Cup of Excellence program is managed by the non-profit Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Inc, The state of the art Cup of Excellence auction has been managed in partnership with CommoditiesOne, a leading software development firm since 2002. For more information about the Cup of Excellence program, to become a member log on to www.cupofexcellence.org.