Photo courtesy of the Good Food Awards
The fourth annual Good Food Awards has announced its impressive lists of finalists in the coffee category. The awards program, which recognizes sustainability and responsibility in food production alongside quality, deserves big props for keeping coffee among its categories of award-winning specialty foods and drinks, which has grown this year to include beer, cheese, spirits, charcuterie, chocolate, confections, oils, pickles and preserves.
The coffee awards committee, in particular, is tasked with determining the finest roasted coffees that also reflect certain ethical principles:
The winners of the Good Food Award for coffee will be distinguished by exemplary flavor – sweet, clean, well developed body, balanced acidity and phenomenal aromatics. To qualify for entry, roasters and coffee farmers must emphasize fairness and transparency from seed to cup. This year’s entry criteria seeks to accommodate the enormous cultural diversity of coffee production. While we are taking a broader approach to environmental sustainability this year, winning coffees that are also using certified organic beans will be eligible to receive the Good Food Awards Gold Seal, a special honor which shows all of us that taste excellence and environmental sustainability can go hand-in-hand.
Fifteen coffee roasteries took home Good Food Awards last year, and the 2014 winners will be announced at a January 16 awards ceremony at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Here is the full list of 2014 coffee finalists:
1000 Faces Coffee, Suke Quto, Georgia
Barrington Coffee, Ethiopia Hachira, Massachusetts
Caffe Ladro, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Hama, Washington
De La Paz Coffee, Kenya Gichathaini & Peel Sessions, California
Doma Coffee Roasting Co., Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Zelele, Idaho
Flying Goat Coffee, Ethiopia Wote Konga & Ethiopia Wottuna Boltuma, California
Four Barrel Coffee, Ethiopia Bulga, California
Intelligentsia Coffee, Organic Shegole Ethiopia, California
Kickapoo Coffee Roasters, Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Idido & Organic Ethiopian Sidama Fero, Wisconsin
Kuma Coffee, Kenya Kiamabara AA, Washington
Madcap Coffee, Ethiopia Yukro, Michigan
Metropolis Coffee Company, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Aylele, Illinois
Olympia Coffee Roasting Co., Ethiopia Konga, Washington
Panther Coffee, Ethiopia Chelba & Nicaragua Kailash
ReAnimator Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Sota, Pennsylvania
Roast House, Batzchocola Guatemalan, Washington
Saint Frank Coffee, Finca Las Nieves, California
Sightglass Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Guji Yetatebe, California
Square One Coffee, Guatemala Acatenango, Pennsylvania
Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Mordecofe Organic Grand Cru #53, Oregon
Tandem Coffee Roasters, Aylele Yirgacheffe Ethiopia, Maine
Topeca Coffee, Ethiopian Nigusse Lemme, Oklahoma
Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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How are the finalists chosen? This list is puzzling, and i think defines more a preference on the part of the roaster than anything else. There is not a single Costa Rican option, and definitely not a Dota micro-climate or even a Tarrazu.
Obviously, i am partial to Dota/Tarrazu because that is where my farm is but still i am very surprised.
It will be interesting to see what are the requirments for the initial entries or if they just take whatever samples roasters submit.
Mostly African coffees?