Farmer Brothers' Coffee Growers Top Competition at 2014 Colombian Cup of Excellence®

TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- An international panel of cupping judges awarded Carmen Cecilia Montoya Patino the highest quality score for her coffee, making her the 2014 Colombian Cup of Excellence^® top-scoring farmer. Ms. Montoya Patino is a farmer and member of the Salgar Cooperative in Colombia, a direct trade partner of Farmer Bros. Co. ("Farmer Brothers")—a leading roaster and distributor of high-quality branded and private label coffees.

The Cup of Excellence is an annual Alliance for Coffee Excellence competition held in select coffee-growing origins around the world, which provides an opportunity for coffee farmers to submit their best coffees to experienced cupping judges for an unbiased quality assessment in a competitive environment. Coffees that qualify through both the origin's national jury and the international jury are eligible for an international online auction for roasters interested in purchasing these phenomenal coffees.

Ms. Montoya Patino's score qualified at 91.3 points, the highest-scoring coffee submitted this year to Cup of Excellence in Colombia.  A fellow Salgar Cooperative member, Pablo Emilio Montoya Caro, also impressed the international jury—placing third with a score of 90.5 points. In all, the Salgar Cooperative's commitment to producing high-quality coffees paid off across the competition: other members won 5^th, 11^th, 12^th and 13^th places.

The green coffee buying team at Farmer Brothers, including its specialty coffee division, Coffee Bean International Inc., gives top priority to creating direct connections with coffee farmers, such as Carmen Montoya Patino, Pablo Montoya Caro and the other farmer partners in the Salgar Cooperative. "Encouraging the production of high-quality, responsibly sourced coffee is a key part of a well-balanced sustainability model. Farmer Brothers' direct trade coffee buying philosophy, as outlined at www.projectdirectcoffee.com, aims to build a responsible coffee supply chain and create long-term solutions that benefit farmers, sellers and buyers", stated Paul Thornton, Director of Coffee.  To that end, Farmer Brothers purchased Pablo Montoya Caro's lot of Cup of Excellence award-winning coffee at auction as a special corporate initiative.

For more information about Farmer Brothers single-origin and responsibly sourced coffees or other quality Farmer Brothers coffees, visit www.farmerbros.com. For more information about Farmer Brothers and its responsible sourcing and sustainability initiatives, contact Marianna Zhupleva at [email protected]. For more information about the Cup of Excellence program, visit http://www.allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/en/cup-of-excellence/.

About Farmer Bros. Co.

Founded in 1912, Farmer Bros. Co. (the "Company" or "Farmer Brothers") is a manufacturer, wholesaler and distributor of coffee, tea and culinary products. The Company is a direct distributor of coffee to restaurants, hotels, casinos, offices, quick service restaurants ("QSR's"), convenience stores, healthcare facilities and other foodservice providers, as well as private brand retailers in the QSR, grocery, drugstore, restaurant, convenience store, and independent coffee house channels. The Company's product line includes roasted coffee, liquid coffee, coffee-related products such as coffee filters, sugar and creamers, assorted iced and hot teas, cappuccino, cocoa, spices, gelatins and puddings, soup bases, dressings, gravy and sauce mixes, pancake and biscuit mixes, and jellies and preserves.

Headquartered in Torrance, Calif., Farmer Bros. Co. generated net sales of over $500 million in fiscal 2014 and has approximately 1,800 employees nationwide. The Company's primary brands include Farmer Brothers™, Artisan Collection by Farmer Brothers™, Superior^®, Metropolitan™, Cain's™ and McGarvey™. For more information, visit: www.farmerbros.com.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." When used in this press release, the words "will," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and "believes," and similar expressions and statements that are made in the future tense or refer to future events or developments, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Farmer Bros. Co.

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