Angelino’s Coffee
Angelino’s Coffee is a California-based specialty roaster1 and, since 2024, the holder of the highest price ever paid at a Cup of Excellence auction.23
Role
- At the 2024 Ethiopia COE, Angelino’s bought the winning lot — grown by smallholder Basha Bekele in Bensa, Sidama and scored 90.50 — for
980.64/kg, about445/lb.4 That beat a 2022 Ethiopia lot bought by a UAE company at $884.10/kg. - Precisely what it bought, per ACE’s official table: lot 1A, 90 kg (198.42 lb), at
445.00/lb —88,296.90. The winner’s harvest was split into two auction lots, and the second half (1B, 231.49 lb at $350.10/lb) went to Orsir International Co. Ltd. and Saza Coffee.5 - The purchase matters beyond the number: top auction lots had long gone to East Asian buyers, so a US roaster taking the record marked a widening of the bidding field. See Premiumisation.
To verify
Angelino’s is also reported to have taken both 1st and 2nd place at the 2024 El Salvador COE with a
122/lb winning bid**. The **auction side of that claim now checks out**: the [[Alliance for Coffee Excellence]] table shows the top 2024 El Salvador price as **122.00/lb for lot 1A of the Natural category — a Geisha from Los Morales scoring 91.80 — with lot 1B of the same coffee at $114.00/lb, which is what “1st and 2nd” describes. What is still unverified is that Angelino’s was the buyer. ACE’s results table lists no buyer names, and the only source naming Angelino’s is the company’s own news blog, which was unreachable when checked (HTTP 429).
Related
- Cup of Excellence · Cup of Excellence records by country
- Basha Bekele — the farmer whose lot it bought · Orsir Coffee · Saza Coffee — named on the other half of that lot
- Alliance for Coffee Excellence · Premiumisation
- Coffee scoring