From the Cup of Excellence's (COE) website: "The Cup of Excellence is the most esteemed award given out for top coffees. These awards come from a strict competition that selects the very best coffee produced in that country for that particular year. These winning coffees are chosen by a select group of national and international cuppers and are cupped at least five different times during the competition process. Only coffees that continuously score high enough are allowed to move forward in the competition. The final winners are awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence® and sold to the highest bidder during an internet auction."

Cup of Excellence® coffees are truly the grand cru of coffees from each producing country. Invalsa founder Nelson has been honored to have served on the international jury in COE competitions in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Rwanda, and Burundi.

Invalsa participates in COE auctions in multiple countries each year, in order to offer our customers a wide range of Cup of Excellence coffees. Some countries like Bolivia have ended their COE participation, creating a Substitute, government-run "Cafe Presidencial" international-jury-graded and online auctioned. We include these coffees in this group.