Cup of Excellence on Siip. From farmer recognition to consumer discovery.
Siip has partnered with the Cup of Excellence to help make exceptional coffee more understandable, more transparent, and more connected from farm to cup.
Partnership · Cup of Excellence
Cup of Excellence on Siip. From farmer recognition to consumer discovery.
Siip has partnered with the Cup of Excellence to help make exceptional coffee more understandable, more transparent, and more connected from farm to cup.
For a long time, we've been sitting with a simple question: how do you help people realize how good coffee can actually be, without asking them to become coffee experts?
Friends have jokingly asked us: “What if coffee had a Michelin Guide?”
That idea stuck with us. Because in many ways, it already exists. It's called Cup of Excellence.
Today, we're excited to officially partner with the Cup of Excellence to help bring that story closer to consumers through Siip.
For more than twenty years, Cup of Excellence has helped identify and reward some of the most exceptional coffees in the world. But while producers, traders, and roasters understand the significance of that recognition, most consumers have never had a clear way to experience or understand it themselves.
That's the gap we're working to close together.
Freshly picked cherries at a Cup of Excellence farm — where the journey from farm to cup begins.
At Siip, we believe exceptional coffee becomes more meaningful when people can understand where it came from, who produced it, and why it stands out. This partnership is about making exceptional coffee more understandable, more connected, and ultimately more accessible from farm to cup.
What We're Building Together
1. Producer Recognition That Reaches Consumers
Cup of Excellence has spent decades recognizing extraordinary producers. But most of that recognition still lives within the coffee industry itself. Through Siip, we're working to help that recognition carry all the way to the people drinking the coffee.
That starts with dedicated producer profiles inside the app, giving consumers a clearer window into the farms, mills, cooperatives, and families behind exceptional coffees. Instead of producers being reduced to a line of text on a bag, we want their work, history, and achievements to become part of the coffee experience itself.
We're also beginning to highlight “Legends of Excellence” producers: farmers and producer groups whose work has consistently shaped the Cup of Excellence story over many years. These are some of the most respected names in specialty coffee, and we believe they deserve far greater visibility with consumers.
2. Highlighting the Roasters Supporting Quality at Origin
We're also working closely with members of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (aka “ACE”, the organization that runs Cup of Excellence), many of whom are the roasters sourcing and championing some of the world's most exceptional coffees.
These are companies investing deeply in transparency, long-term producer relationships, and quality at origin. By highlighting ACE member roasters inside Siip, we're making it easier for consumers to discover and support the people helping build a more sustainable and quality-driven coffee ecosystem.
ACE member roasters cupping coffees side by side — the quiet work behind every exceptional bag.
3. Building Better Coffee Infrastructure
Underneath all of this is the less visible, but incredibly important, work of improving coffee data itself.
Coffee information today is fragmented and inconsistent. Producer names are written differently across bags. Processing methods vary from roaster to roaster. Important details often disappear entirely before reaching consumers.
Together with Cup of Excellence, we're working to improve how coffee information is structured and connected inside Siip, helping ensure that producer names, farms, regions, processing methods, and Cup of Excellence results are consistently represented and easier for consumers to understand.
It may sound technical, but the outcome is simple: a coffee experience that feels more transparent, trustworthy, and connected to the people behind it.
A Quick Word on Cup of Excellence
Blind cupping during a Cup of Excellence jury round — how the world's top lots are identified.
Cup of Excellence is the most respected coffee competition in the world, run by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence. Every year in producing countries around the world, coffees are evaluated through multiple rounds of blind tasting by national and international juries. Only the highest-scoring lots, typically scoring eighty-seven points and above, earn the Cup of Excellence designation, and those winning coffees are then sold through transparent global auctions that regularly fetch many times the commodity price.
The money matters, but what matters just as much is the visibility. A Cup of Excellence win puts a farmer on the map, often for the first time. It opens doors to new relationships, new buyers, and new investment in the work of growing better coffee. For many producers, a Cup of Excellence recognition can change the trajectory of a farm, creating new relationships, stronger pricing, and long-term visibility for their work.
That is the part of the story most drinkers never see, which is exactly what we want to change.
Legends of Excellence
Producers Who Shaped the Cup of Excellence Story
These are some of the producers, mills, and cooperatives whose coffees have consistently helped define excellence in specialty coffee. Through Siip, we're working to make their stories more visible to the people drinking their coffees every day.
Abner Samuel Zavala
Nicaragua, Nueva Segovia
Café Orfeu
Brazil, Minas Gerais
Jorge Raul Rivera
El Salvador
Jose Roberto Monterroso Pineda
Guatemala, Jalapa
Luis Ricardo Calderón
Costa Rica, Tarrazú
Marysabel Caballero
Honduras, Marcala
Where This Goes
This is only the beginning.
Over time, we believe the experience of discovering exceptional coffee should become dramatically more connected and intuitive for consumers.
Coffees tied to Cup of Excellence results will become easier to identify and understand. Producer stories and farm recognition will become more visible inside the app. Award-winning coffees and auction lots will become easier to follow. And consumers will gain a clearer understanding of why certain coffees stand out in the first place.
The long-term vision is simple:
Make it easier for anyone to understand why a coffee is exceptional, who produced it, and why that recognition matters.
Because when recognition reaches consumers, more value can flow back to the people who created the coffee worth recognizing in the first place.
Help Build a More Connected Coffee Experience
Download Siip, explore exceptional coffees, and help us create a more connected coffee ecosystem from farm to cup.
Today, the partnership shows up through dedicated ACE member roaster highlights, improved producer and coffee information throughout the app, and new ways of recognizing the people behind exceptional coffees. We're also beginning to spotlight “Legends of Excellence” producers whose work has helped shape the Cup of Excellence story over many years.
Some coffees from ACE member roasters may already have connections to Cup of Excellence producers or auctions, but the current focus is on helping consumers better understand the ecosystem behind exceptional coffee. Over time, we aim to make award-winning coffees and producer recognition more visible and accessible inside the Siip experience.
ACE is the nonprofit organization behind Cup of Excellence, the world's most respected coffee competition. For more than 20 years, it has worked with producers, juries, and roasters around the world to identify exceptional coffees and help create more value and recognition for the people producing them.
To help make exceptional coffee more accessible and connected for consumers, while bringing more visibility, recognition, and long-term value to the producers behind it. Over time, we hope Cup of Excellence becomes something consumers actively recognize and look for when exploring great coffee.
