The chairman of the Cup of Excellence’s board of directors is one of the buyers. Hannah J. Ryan Coffee cupping is a detailed art that begins with freshly roasted and ground bean samples. The drink is brewed by pouring hot water over the coffee and scooping off the grounds that float to the top. Cuppers slurp the hot drink from a spoon to spread the flavor across their tongue, swish it about their mouth and then slip it out to experience the coffee's full flavor profile. This year’s highest-scoring Costa Rican coffee received a record $45 a pound in the Cup of Excellence’s online auction, held Tuesday morning. A Brumas del Zurquí coffee in Heredia was awarded 93.47 points in the national cupping competition in May (TT, June 29). Three micro-roasting coffee companies in Japan paid nearly $100,000 for 2,200 pounds of the winning green coffee. Judges awarded the especially high score to the Heredian coffee for its unique complexity of dried raisin and prune flavors along with floral aromas. Prior to the auction, Cup of Excellence international judge Bernd Braune said the winner was a surprise to all because Heredia is not particularly known for exceptionally unique micro coffee lots. Over the past five years, coffee producers around Costa Rica have improved their growing and harvesting practices, Braune said, and to see this quality of coffee is exciting. The buyers of the winning lot are Maruyama Coffee, Yokoi Coffee and Bontain Coffee. The president and founder of Maruyama Coffee, Kentaro Maruyama, is the chairman on the Cup of Excellence’s board of directors. Bontain Coffee’s owner, Yoshi Kato, is also a board member. A total of 27 Costa Rican coffees were auctioned at an average price of $8.90 a pound, bringing in some $600,000 for Costa Rican coffee producers and the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica. | Costa Developers

Second Vice President Luis Liberman heads the Chinchilla administration’s economic team. Will his experience in the private banking system help Costa Rica weather rough economic seas?

Fernando Quirós

Second Vice President Luis Liberman, 65, joined Laura Chinchilla’s presidential campaign team after serving as general manager of Scotiabank and its predecessor, Banco Interfin. He now coordinates Chinchilla’s economic team.

Luis Liberman came to the second vice presidency of Costa Rica by an unusual route: an outstanding banking career in the private sector. 

Liberman, 65, started from scratch in the late 1970s by getting a group of prominent businessmen to invest in Banco Interfin, a finance company that he ran as general manager. Under Liberman’s leadership, Banco Interfin grew during three decades into Costa Rica’s biggest private bank.