The top coffee in Thailand’s 2026 Cup of Excellence is a Honey processed Gesha from Coffee De Hmong Bio Farm in the Nan region, which scored 90.50 points and sold at the competition’s August 4 auction. Grown by producer Wichai Kamnerdmongkhon, the lot split between two buyers: Black Sea Corp, which paid $91.60 a pound, and Paper Swan, which paid $88.98 a pound. Neither buyer has a confirmed public shop as of this writing.
Gesha is a variety originally from Ethiopia, prized in specialty coffee for its floral, jasmine like aroma and delicate body. This lot was processed as Honey, meaning some of the fruit’s sugars, the mucilage, were left on the parchment during drying, splitting the difference between a washed coffee’s clarity and a natural’s fruit forward sweetness. It’s the farm’s second consecutive appearance atop Thailand’s competition: Coffee De Hmong Bio Farm also placed first, with a Honey processed Java, in 2024.
None of the two buyers has a confirmed public shop yet. This post will be updated with a purchase link if one turns up.
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The Win
The Cup of Excellence began in 1999 and has been run by the non-profit Alliance for Coffee Excellence since 2002. It’s the specialty coffee world’s oldest farm lot competition: entries are blind cupped by a national jury and then an international panel before winning lots go to auction.
For more on the Cup of Excellence and past winners, visit our Cup of Excellence page.