Indian producer Jumboor Estate is the winner of the sixth Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award, a prize illycaffè gives to the producer of the best sustainable coffee.
The aim is to promote the quality and sustainability of coffee production and increase collaboration between producers.
The 2021 Award featured 27 finalists, three producers from nine of the most significant coffee growing countries: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, and Nicaragua.
Represented by B.M. Nachappa, Jamboor Estate, which, among other things, produces "Jumboor Gold", a high-quality Yellow Bourbon Arabica variety, was voted "Best of the Best" by an independent panel of international experts.
"It's the first time that India has won this award," illycaffè Chairman Andrea Illy told ANSA.
"But the country has been a high-quality coffee producer for around 20 years and it is the trailblazer of a new way to grow coffee, which is agroforestry, where coffee is grown under the shade of tall trees, usually together with other crops such as peppercorns or vanilla.
"So this sort of coffee production is better balanced and more respectful of biodiversity and soil health".
At the same occasion, Proyecto Lift Olopita of Guatemala won the "Coffee Lover's Choice" award, designated by a panel of consumers through blind tasting organized in select illy cafes worldwide.
"The victory of Guatemala, which with its group of small producers participating in the Lift project won the consumers' choice award for best coffee, also proves that quality continues to be an important engine to drive sustainable growth among coffee communities," Andrea Illy concluded.
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