The 2019 Good Food Awards finalists have been announced—including some of the best coffee purveyors from across the United States.
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Cover photo courtesy of Gamma Nine
It’s that time of the year again! The Good Food Awards, a competition and celebration of over a dozen craft foods, released their list of finalists for the best coffees of the year. The list will be whittled down to a handful of winners at the beginning of next year.
This is the ninth year of the Good Food Awards, and each year continues to emphasize the work of small food purveyors focused on responsible sourcing and capturing quality. “The Good Food Foundation exists to celebrate, connect, empower and leverage the passionate and engaged, yet often overlooked, players in the food system who are driving towards tasty, authentic and responsible food in order to humanize and reform our American food culture,” their website states.
Every year, the Good Food Awards group selects a number of coffee professionals to taste all the submissions and create a list of winners. Before submitting, every entrant must show that the coffee they’re submitting promotes fairness and transparency. Then, 20 judges, led by Sandra Elisa Loofbourow of Royal Coffee and Tovara Salley of Equator Coffees & Teas, narrow the list of entrants down—the final results of the tasting committee will be announced during the Good Food Awards ceremony, and a marketplace that takes place soon thereafter will allow folks to try and buy coffees from the winners.
Every year, the list of coffees almost always slants toward Ethiopian offerings—last year, every single winning coffee was from Ethiopia. Although this year’s list also leans toward those coffees, it’s notable in the number of coffees from other countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Although we don’t know the exact number of coffee entrants, the website states that over 2,000 purveyors entered their products to be pared down to a list of 400 finalists over 16 categories. Here’s the list of the 2019 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 Coffee, Organic Ethiopia Kurimi, Illinois
Linea Caffe, 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
You can learn more about the competition by visiting the Good Food Awards website!
