Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/02
By: Hao Hsueh-chin and Ko Lin 

Taipei, Aug. 2 (CNA) An importer from Taiwan won the bid for the most expensive coffee beans auctioned by the Best of Panama (BOP), a blind coffee tasting competition organized and run by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) on July 20.

The bidding for the Elida Geisha Green Tip Natural, a variety of coffee cultivated by the Lamastus Family Estates in Panama’s Boquete town, closed at US$803 per pound, the highest per-pound price ever paid at the coffee auction.

Wang Hsin-chun (王信鈞), the winning bidder, said Thursday as many as 250 buyers placed bids for a limited quantity – 100 pounds – of the exquisite coffee from Lamastus.

Wang, who runs a coffee supply business based in Taichung, said the growth in coffee consumption has created about NT$70 billion (US$2.27 billion) worth of business opportunities a year in the local market.    [FULL  STORY]