A Recap of the 2025 Brazil Cup of Excellence

The coffee competition showcased the resilience and dedication of Brazil’s coffee producers.

BY MICHAELA TOMCHEK
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Photos by Michaela Tomchek

Cup of Excellence (CoE) is a prestigious coffee competition that recognizes the world’s highest-quality coffees from over a dozen regions around the world, through a rigorous, multi-stage judging process. Earlier this month, CoE held its Brazil event and announced winners across three categories: Experimental (coffees with controlled fermentation), Natural/Dry (sun-dried and naturally processed coffees), and Wet Process.

In order for a CoE competition to be successful, there needs to be a strong supportive in-country partner. In Brazil, this is the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA), who helped organize everything around the event—starting with the collection of samples, all the way to awarding the winning lots.

Amanda Tempesta, International Relations Manager at the BSCA, shares why the competition is significant to Brazil’s producers: “Brazilians are hardworking and deeply committed people, and in coffee, this care becomes something extraordinary. CoE brings a strong sense of pride and belonging to everyone involved, from those managing the crops and harvesting cherries, to professionals working in research, technology, marketing, trading, and organization.”

In other words, Cup of Excellence is more than a competition; it is a recognition of years of dedication and passion defining the Brazilian coffee community.

The Competition Process

As usual, the Cup of Excellence event began with selecting a National Jury to assess the submitted coffees. In order to be a part of the National Jury, local cuppers underwent a rigorous test. From there, a local roasting team ensured all samples were roasted evenly and correctly to be properly assessed.  

In 2025, 392 samples were sent in to be tasted and scored. After the first round, the National Jury selected 151 samples, then cut the number down to 40 samples, to be assessed by the International Jury, a team of 27 individuals from around the world. 

Members of the International Jury require an accepted application and plenty of experience tasting coffees to be invited to a CoE competition. This year, there were cuppers from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Europe, and the U.S.: a diverse team that helped taste and select the winners for Brazil.

There were three categories: Experimental, Natural/Dry, and Wet Process. Ten winners were selected from each category after careful assessment.  

“The Cup of Excellence began in Brazil 26 years ago, and what happens here each year continues to shape specialty coffee trends around the world,” says Eric Wolf, Director of Coffee for Casa Brasil in Austin, Texas. Eric has been on eight CoE juries, three of which were in Brazil.

“Cup of Excellence has elevated how Brazilian coffee is perceived and celebrated, showcasing the country’s diversity, innovation, and commitment to quality,” Eric adds.

The International Jury is an integral part of the CoE process, carefully tasting each lot. The cuppers assess various qualities of the coffees including the aroma, sweetness, balance, acidity, flavor, tasting notes, and mouthfeel. They undergo a calibration day to align scores and cupping techniques to prepare for the assessment of the forty coffees.

The following day, the coffees that score an average of 86 and above will be selected to move on to the next day. Then, coffees scoring 87 and above will be selected for the international auction. The final day of cupping involves selecting the top five in each category. 

Jane Paphavasit, Manager of Special Projects for Thailand’s Mae Fah Luang Foundation and an observer at the Brazil 2025 CoE, notes: “CoE is paramount for several reasons, fundamentally serving as a crucial link between quality, recognition, and sustainability in the specialty coffee world.” She also adds that the competition pushes producers to constantly strive to improve their quality and processing methods. 

After a few rigorous days of cupping, the jury members met with all of the producers at a ceremony held in São Paulo. It is here that the winners were announced, and special awards were given to the coffees scoring above 90 points.  

One of the key moments of this year’s event was when Fazenda Aracaçu in Sul de Minas—the farm belonging to Carmem Lúcia Chaves de Brito, BSCA’s beloved President—won first place for the Natural category.

Many can attest that, for a number of years, Carmem has played an important role model in the Brazilian coffee community. Her kindness and intelligence have pushed many others to follow in her footsteps, focusing more on sustainability and quality. The room was quite emotional when this coffee was awarded, indicative of the impact the CoE can have on the community, even one as large as Brazil. 

Ryan Noh, founder of Ryan’s Coffee in Seoul, South Korea, has been a CoE judge forty times, and thus has immense experience with the competition, and understands the impact it can have. “The Brazil Cup of Excellence holds a historic place as the origin and cornerstone of the COE program. It was also the first competition to categorize entries by processing methods—natural, pulped natural, and washed—which shows Brazil’s dynamic and fast-adapting market structure,” he says. Ryan also notes that the Arara varietal received some great recognition this year, revealing the hard work producers are doing to cultivate newer varietals.  

It is clear that times are challenging in the coffee industry, especially with current tariffs and the volatile coffee market. But CoE reveals that regardless of these challenges, the brightness of coffee and community still shines.  

Ryan puts it perfectly: “This year’s results represent not just a list of winners, but a clear sign of how Brazil’s coffee sector continues to evolve.”

2025 Cup of Excellence Brazil Winners

CATEGORY: EXPERIMENTAL

First Place

Name: Ipanema Agrícola S/A
Farm: Fazenda Rio Verde
Variety: Geisha
Points: 91.68
Region: Mantiqueira de Minas

Second Place

Name: José Carlos dos Reis
Farm: Fazenda Rancho Grande
Variety: Arara
Points: 91.11
Region: Sul de Minas

Third Place

Name: Sebastião Daniel da Silva
Farm: Sítio São Sebastião
Variety: Arara
Points: 90.29
Region: Mantiqueira de Minas

CATEGORY: NATURAL

First Place

Name: Paulo Fernandes Chaves de Brito
Farm: Fazenda Aracaçu
Variety: Arara
Points: 90.79
Region: Sul de Minas

Second Place

Name: Danilo Barbosa
Farm: Fazenda Sucuri
Variety: Geisha
Points: 90.32
Region: Cerrado Mineiro

Third Place

Name: Gustavo Andrade Alvarenga
Farm: Fazenda Chapadão
Variety: Paraíso
Points: 90.11
Region: Cerrado Mineiro

CATEGORY: WET PROCESS

First Place

Name: Marcelo Assis Nogueira
Farm: Fazenda Água Limpa
Variety: Arara
Points: 91.37
Region: Cerrado Mineiro

Second Place

Name: Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz
Farm: Fazenda Boa Vista
Variety: Catucai
Points: 90.82
Region: Mantiqueira de Minas

Third Place

Name: Osvaldina Alves Dutra
Farm: Fazenda Água Limpa
Variety: Kent
Points: 90.50
Region: Matas de Minas

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michaela Tomchek finds coffee an important part of life and the world. She is an appreciator of the crop, the producer, and the many cafés throughout the world serving beautiful beverages. Currently, she writes about coffee, hoping to spread her joy across the globe. 

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