With Mostly Ethiopian Coffees, 25 Roasters Are Good Food Awards Finalists

Twenty five United States coffee roasting companies have been named as finalists for 2019 Good Food Awards.

The awards program, now in its ninth year, celebrates food products and their makers in numerous specialty food categories not merely for quality, but for sustainable sourcing and social impact.

Coffee is the only product category in which the ingredients don’t need to be sourced from U.S. soil, making it one of the awards program’s most difficult categories to evaluate in terms of traceability and verification.

As in years past, Ethiopian coffees have made a strong showing on the list of 2019 finalists. Last year, all but one of the 27 finalist coffees hailed from Ethiopia, and all 15 winning coffees in 2018 came from the historic growing country.

The dominance of Ethiopian coffees through the competition’s blind evaluation process have highlighted not only the country’s unique gifts, but also the challenges inherent to running any kind of quality-based coffee competition, especially on held on a once-a-year basis. We’ve learned that roasters tend to submit more Ethiopian and Gesha-variety coffees. But why? We explored that in more detail here.

The 2019 list of GFA finalists actually features a bit more origin diversity, although 20 of the 25 finalist coffees are Ethiopian single-origins or blends with some part Ethiopian coffee. Also represented is a coffee from Costa Rica, two coffees from Colombia, two Kenyas as parts of blends, two coffees from Guatemala’s Finca El Injerto, and a Panamanian Gesha.

Interestingly, a single washed-process, organic Ethiopian coffee called Kayon Mountain shows up on the list three times — as two single-origins, and as part of a blend — with three different roasters. This, of course, underscores greater questions in the specialty coffee world like, “Who, perhaps, should be receiving these kinds of awards in the first place?” or, “Who is really adding the value here?”

Without further ado, here is the list of 2019 Good Food Awards coffee finalists:

Bard Coffee, Organic Costa Rica La Mirella, Maine

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Geisha XO & KIUNYU Coffee Factory – Peaberry, California

Broadsheet Coffee Roasters, Special Prep Ethiopia Natural Bombe, Bensa Sidama, Massachusetts

Caffe Ladro, Ethiopia Limu Organic, Washington

Catalyst Coffee Consulting, Ethiopia Keramo, Oregon

Commonwealth Coffee Roasters, Carmen Estate Washed Geisha, Colorado

Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, Kossa Kebena, Ohio

Drink Coffee Do Stuff, Ethiopia Guji Hambela Wamena, California

Elixr Coffee, El Injerto Pacamara, Pennsylvania

Equator Coffees & Teas, Ethiopia Gedeb 1 Organic Gotiti Lot 143, California

Folly Coffee Roasters, House Bean – Ethiopia Guji, Minnesota

Intelligentsia, Organic Ethiopia Kurimi, Illinois

Linea, Ethiopia Suke Quto, California

Noble Coffee Roasting, Ethiopian ‘Buku Sayisa’, Oregon

Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters, Guji Highlands, Ethiopia – Natural Process, Organic, Texas

Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters, Girma Eshetu, Texas

Onyx Coffee Lab, Colombia Granja La Esperanza, Arkansas

PERC Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Kayon Mountain, Georgia

Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, Kayon Mountain, Virginia

Royal Mile Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Taaroo & Kenya Ichamama Peaberry Washed, New Jersey

Spyhouse Coffee Roasting Co, Duromina/Ethiopia, Minnesota

Still Vibrato, Ethiopia Shantawene, Oregon

Thanksgiving Coffee Company, Upsetter Espresso, California

Vashon Coffee Company, Organic Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Hambela Buku, Washington

Vibrant Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Idido Washed, Pennsylvania