The Good Food Foundation has announced that 25 United States coffee roasters have been named finalists for the 2021 Good Food Awards.
The awards program, now in its 11th year, celebrates food products and their makers in 16 specialty food categories not merely for quality, but for sustainable sourcing and social impact. Coffee is the only product category in which the ingredients do not need to be sourced from United States soil, making it one of the awards program’s most difficult categories to evaluate in terms of traceability and verification.
In years past, the coffee category had been dominated by new crop Ethiopian coffees, although the past two years have seen far more diversity in terms of coffee origins.
The GFF’s coffee committee — this year co-chaired by Sandra Elisa Loofbourow of The Crown, Tovara Salley formerly of Equator Coffees, and Sheli Maciel of Allegro Coffee — evaluated roasted coffee submissions based on a number of economic and social factors related to coffee purchasing, and environmental and social factors regarding business operations at home.
Two of this year’s finalists — PT’s Coffee of Topeka, Kansas; and Noble Coffee Roasting of Ashland, Oregon — had multiple coffees selected. Roasters named as finalists hailed from throughout the U.S., including the Northeast (5), the Midwest (4), Rockies and Southwest (5), the South (4) and the West Coast (7).
This year’s Good Food Awards winners will be announced via a livestream taking place Friday, Jan. 22. That will be followed by a “virtual mercantile” for winning companies launching on Monday, Jan. 25.
Here is the full list of 2021 Good Food Awards finalists:
- Abracadabra Coffee Co., Mexico Finca Santa Cruz Natural, Vermont
- Bend Roasting Company, Layered Fermentation from Abore Washing Station Shatawene Village Sidamo, Oregon
- Big Creek Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Guji Uraga, Montana
- Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Cerro Azul, California
- Blossom Coffee Roasters, Organic Kenya Kiambu Muiri Estate AA, Washington
- Campos Coffee USA, Colombia La Negrita Natural Geisha, Utah
- Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters, Finca San Luis, Colombia, California
- Crimson Cup Coffee, Natural Gesha, Oxapampa, Ohio
- Eastlick Coffee Company, Sudan Rume, Inmaculada Coffee Farms, Florida
- Evermore Coffee Roasters, Panama El Letrero – Creativa Natural, New Jersey
- Giv Coffee, Halo Beriti, Connecticut
- Greater Goods Coffee Co., Suke Quto, Texas
- H+S Coffee Roasters, Ecuador Galo Morales Flores, Wyoming
- Huckleberry Roasters, Phantom Limb Blend, Colorado
- JBC Coffee Roasters, Ardent Ethiopia Natural, Wisconsin
- Joe Bean Roasters, Costa Rica Café Rivense del Chirripó Las Torres Natural, New York
- Modest Coffee, The Collector: Costa Rica – Familia Monge, Illinois
- Mr. Espresso, Organic Ethiopia Shantewene, Natural Process, California
- Noble Coffee Roasting, Ethiopia ‘Benti Nenqa’ and Kenya ‘Muiri Estate’ Peaberry, Oregon
- Onyx Coffee Lab, Panama Lamastus Family, Arkansas
- Peach Coffee Roasters, Costa Rica Cordillera de Fuego, Georgia
- Per’La Specialty Roasters, Ethiopia Natural Sidamo Durato Bombe, Florida
- PT’S Coffee Roasting Co., Ethiopia Tigesit Waqa Natural and Colombia Café Granja La Esperanza Sudan Rume Natural, Kansas
- Rothrock Coffee, Tuma Tesso, Pennsylvania
- Triple Coffee Co., Pacamara Natural (Abel Giron, Honduras), California
Sad to not see Caffe d’Arte from Seattle not on the list