Ocir-Café, Rwanda’s Coffee Development Authority has pushed the auctioning of some 24 Rwandan coffees which won the prestigious Cup of Excellence (COE) award.

The Internet auctioning which was scheduled for October 14, 2008 has been extended to October 23, 2008.

Alex Kanyakole, Director General of Ocir-Café  explained that the postponement was due to the ongoing World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan.

"We felt that Rwandan coffees would not get more attention from international bidders, who are coffee buyers and sellers, with the presence of another world coffee event,” he said.

"We therefore opted to postpone for a week,” Kanyankole added.

He said that the winning coffee samples were sent to 160 companies in 25 countries worldwide for examination before making bids.

Kanyankole added that the auctioning will be held in Rwanda, and hopefully at Bourbon Coffee shop for easy monitoring of the entire exercise.

The coffees were selected in August this year during the first international cup of excellence competition in Africa.

It was also the first of its kind on Rwandan soil despite holding a similar event known as the Golden Cup of Excellence 2007. The Golden cup of Excellence was said to be preparing for the CoE.

The COE event is the most esteemed award given out to top coffees in the world.

After the pre-selection phase in which 125 coffees were involved, 50 coffees remained for the national jury level while only 24 samples were found to meet the international coffee quality standards.

The winning coffees were chosen by a select group of competent national and international cuppers.

Multisector Investment Group Ltd (MIG) and FAKCO - Rulindo took first and second places respectively.

According to officials at Ocir—café, Rwandan coffee, having come of age, being recognised internationally  can now attract high bidders even above $50 per kilogramme.

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