Salvadoran palate ranks second in world coffee championship

Salvador’s Jorge Escobar, official cupper at the Salvadoran Coffee Council and El Salvador School of Coffee trainer, demonstrated his accurate palate to win second place at the fifth World Cup Tasters Championship during The Wonderful Coffee 2008 Fair and Conference in Copenhagen. Held in late June, the event was organized by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe.

The contest brought together the world’s best coffee cuppers, who tasted some of the finest coffees in the world, which were disclosed after the competition. First-place winner was Casper Engel Rasmussen from Denmark; Anne Nordström from Sweden finished third. Other finalists in the competition were Marta Pilgli (Estonia), Rasmus Helgebostad (Norway), James Hoffman (UK) and Edwin Martínez (USA).

This prize is extremely important since it demonstrates the highly trained and talented coffee professionals in El Salvador, whom Escobar exemplifies. These experts support a steadily growing specialty coffee industry. “This is an award for the passionate coffee growers and everyone involved in this activity in my country, since they are the ones behind the hard work,” Escobar said. “This award goes to them. We will keep improving and working hard to demonstrate to the world the superior quality of El Salvador’s coffee beans.”