Some people drink coffee for the caffeine. Some dilute it with sugar and milk and artificial flavourings.

But as more people appreciate coffee for its quality and taste, coffee has come into its own as a gourmet food item. And Rwanda is on the forefront of producing high quality specialty coffees.

Last week, 28 coffee experts from across the world gathered in Kayonza to judge Rwanda’s best coffees, as the Cup of Excellence competition entered the final round.

Narrowed down from 172 lots of coffee from washing stations and farmers across the country, international coffee cuppers graded 60 different lots of Rwandan coffee, tasting for flavour subtleties and defects.

Twenty-eight entries scored above 85 on the internationally recognised 100-point scale, earning the “Cup of Excellence” distinction, and the top 10 high scoring entries were honoured at a ceremony on Saturday morning.

CFC took first place with a score of 91, Muyongwe with a score of 90.69, and Ruvumbu with a score of 90.59.

Tasting coffee is not a matter of good or bad. It is far more complex.

Cuppers are more than just coffee lovers — they are trained professionals, who have mastered the detection of subtle flavours and hints over months of careful practice.

Internationally recognised flavours range from things like “snow pea” and “cedar” to “concord grape,” “nutmeg” and “leathery.”

Stephen Vick, Green Coffee Buyer for Blue Bottle Coffee based in the United States, has been judging Cup of Excellence coffees for several years now.

“Every region has the flavours they’re known for, and that’s due to the climate, soil, washing stations, processing, a lot of factors,” he says. Here in Rwanda “you see a lot of very interesting acid profiles,” he says. “You have a lot of citric acids, orange, tartaric acids, grape flavours.”

Cup of Excellence winners don’t just get a pat on the back. Lots given the Cup of Excellence distinction are entered into an Internet auction, where roasters from around the world pay premium prices for the best lots. The money from the auction is given directly back to the farmers who contributed coffee cherries to the lot.

The highest earning lot of coffee from Rwanda sold for $23.61 per pound in 2010.

In addition to the cash prize, explains Dr M. Ndambe Nzarama, deputy director general of exports and market operations at NAEB, Cup of Excellence encourages networking within the industry and transparent relationships between farmers and roasters.

“Roasters create their own connections with coffee that they like. It has the effect of creating direct connections with farmers, it has that effect of marketing and promotion. It’s more than the 28 in auctions; it’s the visibility the whole sector gets from hosting this event,” he says.

Cup of Excellence was held in 10 countries this year. Co-founder of the programme, Susie Spindler, explains that is was founded in Brazil in 1999 “to help countries understand how to receive more money for their coffee… The idea was to work with farmers to improve quality, resulting in the marketplace to paying more.”

The competition has expanded, but the vision for the future remains the same.

“I would like to see a time when farmers can view themselves as entrepreneurs with the ability to create a handcrafted product in high demand, I would like to see coffee be a product that creates enough pride and financial reward to keep the next generation on the farm,” says Spindler.

Rwanda and Burundi are the only African nations taking part in this year’s competition.

The Cup of Excellence Internet auction for Rwanda will take place on October 1st.