Visit a coffee cooperative lab in Sul de Minas, Brasil. In the heart of Brasil's coffee country is the region called the "South of Minas", where some of the finest single origin coffees originate. This video shows how the cooperative grades coffee through the cupping process.
Cupping grades and assigns a "qualitative value" to each farmer's submitted coffee lot. This isn't a competition. Blends are usually beans from different growing regions around the world. Blending coffees from local farms would only be mixing different grades of the same type coffees from the same growing region. Importers are currently paying approximately $1.50/lb. USD, FOB the shipping point. Min. buys are around $30k per container.
usbrasilcafe 4 years ago