Friday 05 December 2025

Cup of Excellence 2025 announces winners from Brazil award

For the first time, a Brazilian producer was elected as Legends of Excellence, an elite designation awarded to coffee producers who have consistently demonstrated exceptional quality, earning multiple Cup of Excellence wins over the years

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MILAN – The Cup of Excellence (CoE) 2025, the world’s most prestigious specialty coffee competition, announced its winners in Brazil after an intense week of evaluations across three categories: Experimental, recognizing coffees with controlled fermentation; Natural, assessing sun-dried and naturally processed coffees; and Wet Process, evaluating pulped, de-mucilaged, and hulled coffees.

For the first time, a Brazilian producer was elected as Legends of Excellence, an elite designation awarded to coffee producers who have consistently demonstrated exceptional quality, earning multiple Cup of Excellence wins over the years. Selected from six countries by the Alliance for Cofee Excellence and CoE,, these producers represent the pinnacle of craftsmanship, innovation, and dedication.

Luiz Paulo Dias Pereira Filho, from CarmoCoffes Farm, was 23 times winner.”I want to thank everyone. This is 25 years of journey, with many people alongside me, especially my wife who has supported me through more than 200 days a year away from home, my business partner, my family, and the entire BSCA team that has supported me since I started in 2000 at age 20. This trophy may be coming home with me, but it belongs to Brazil, it shows our country’s potential. Being among the six global legends, this trophy is ours.”

For the Experimental category, Fazenda Rio Verde’s winning coffee, of the Geisha variety, was recognized for its floral and fruity aromas, bright acidity, delicate body, and high level of complexity.

For the Natural category, Fazenda Araçu stood out for its Arara variety, featuring sensory profiles with sweet notes such as honey, raw sugar, molasses, yellow fruits, a creamy body, and acidity. And for the Wet Process category, Fazenda Água Limpa outperformed its competitors thanks to its Arara variety, featuring a sweet, balanced, and elegant profile with soft floral aromas and intense natural sweetness, medium to high citric and malic acidity that is very clean and well integrated, and a creamy, silky body with medium structure

Vinicius Estrela, Executive Director of the BSCA, added: “The true star of the Cup of Excellence is the Brazilian producer, who projects the origin of Brazil and expands the image of specialty coffee of exceptional quality, increasingly aligned with sustainability, diversity, stories, new sensory profiles, and varieties developed through research.

This combination continues to elevate Brazilian specialty coffee at global cupping tables.

The CoE Winners

The top three scores in each category were earned by:
 
Experimental
Place
Name
Farm
Variety
Points
City
First
Ipanema Agrícola S/A
Fazenda Rio Verde
Geisha
91,68
Conceição do Rio Verde -MG
Second
José Carlos dos Reis
Fazenda Riacho Grande
Arara
91,11
Três Pontas – MG
Thrid
Sebastião Daniel da Silva
Sítio São Sebastião
Arara
90,29
Cristina -MG
 
 
 
Natural
Place
Name
Farm
Variety
Points
City
First
Paulo Fernandes Chaves de Brito
Fazenda Araçu
Arara
90,79
Três Pontas – MG
Second
Danilo Barbosa
Fazenda Sucuri
Geisha
90,32
Coromandel – MG
Thrid
Gustavo Andrade Alvarenga
Fazenda Chapadão
Para[iso
90,11
Pratinha – MG
 
 
Wet
 
Place
Name
Farm
Variety
Points
City
First
Marcelo Assis Nogueira
Fazenda Água Limpa
Arara
91,37
Campos Altos – MG
Second
Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz
Fazenda Boa Vista
Catucai
90,82
Dom Viçoso – MG
Thrid
Osvaldina Alves Dutra
Fazenda Água Limpa
Kent
90,50
São João do Munhaçu – MG
 
Carmen Lucia de Brito, BSCA President, highlighted the significance of the recognition:
“We are grateful to the coffee producers for trusting BSCA, which evaluates every day how to showcase the wonders they are producing. Each year, specialty coffee production is increasingly impactful and authentic, strengthening the Brazilian specialty coffee community. This award recognizes what we deliver to the world: cups with unique, unforgettable sensory profiles. A particularly relevant fact for us is the remarkable number of coffees of the Arara variety among the top winners — a true highlight of Brazilian genetics. Emphasizing the growing prominence of this variety in competition settings means also reinforcing and promoting the significant advances of Brazilian science in favor of excellence in coffee cultivation.

The autorities perception

Gary Urrutia, Managing Director of CoE, shared: “It’s my first time in Brazil, and I am enchanted. I am from Honduras, a coffee-producing country. I am honored to be here and to visit farms, seeing how Brazilian producers lead the way. That is why we are here today: to award these outstanding producers˜.
John Thompson, Head Judge from the UK, remarked: “The last time I was here was in 2015, and the specialty coffees are completely different from what I experienced then. The competition is unique and very challenging, especially with three distinct categories in Brazil. Some of the country’s varieties cannot be found anywhere else in the world. It’s also remarkable to see women coffee producers being highlighted—this sends an important message to the entire community. I am thrilled to have participated in both the national and international phases.”
Erick Wolf, representing Casa Brasil Coffees, USA, noted: “This is my third time judging at CoE Brazil. What impressed me most was the Experimental category, with its wide variety of profiles. Brazil continues to lead specialty coffee production and surprises every year.”

The online auction

The winning specialty coffees will be showcased to roasters and importers worldwide from December 8 to 18, with the Excellence Arabica auction taking place on December 9. Sales through these auctions consistently outperform traditional trading channels, providing producers with global exposure and fair compensation for their exceptional quality.

Brazil. The Coffee Nation

The Cup of Excellence is part of the sectoral project “Brazil. The Coffee Nation”, carried out by BSCA in partnership with ApexBrasil, focusing on promoting Brazilian specialty coffee in the international market and reinforcing the pillars of quality, diversity, and sustainability. The initiative aims to present Brazil as a nation endowed with the natural resources essential for cultivating the finest coffees and actively investing in achieving the highest quality standards in a sustainable way, in compliance with strict social and environmental regulations.                                                                                                              
One of the current project’s priorities is to invest in qualification and diversification initiatives, with a focus on supporting the country’s canéfora (robusta and conilon) coffess producers, quality and sustainablity certifications, and coffes
produced by women, thus fostering gender equity in Brazilian coffee farming and the training of professional female coffee cuppers. The project currently targets the following markets:
i) South Africa, Australia, China, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Spain, United States, France, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, and Taiwan for green specialty coffees; and
ii) Canada, Chile, China, and the United States for roasted and ground coffee products.
Companies not yet participating in the project can obtain more information directly from BSCA by calling +55 (35) 3212-4705 / 99824-9845 / 99879-8943 or emailing info@bsca.com.br
 

About ApexBrasil

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy.
 To achieve its goals, ApexBrasil carries out a wide range of trade promotion initiatives designed to boost exports and enhance the value of Brazilian products and services overseas. These include trade and prospecting missions, business matchmaking rounds, support for Brazilian companies’ participation in major international trade fairs, visits by foreign buyers and opinion leaders to learn about Brazil’s production capabilities, and other business platforms aimed at strengthening the Brazil brand.
The Agency also works in coordination with public and private sector partners to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, focusing on strategic sectors that contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Brazilian companies and the country.

About BSCA

Since 1991, BSCA has been internationally recognized as a leader in the production of fine coffee in Brazil. Its activities focus on disseminating and promoting technical improvement in the production, commercialization and industrialization of specialty coffee, while also advocating for environmental preservation and sustainability.
Through partnerships for research, quality control technique dissemination and promotional activities, BSCA elevates the standards of excellence for Brazilian coffee in domestic and international markets. Additionally, it certifies lots in Brazil that can be monitored through specialty coffee quality control seals, ensuring full traceability for consumers.

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