AWARD-WINNING ROASTERS BOX DEC. 2021
The 2021 AWARD-WINNING ROASTERS Pour Ta Coffee Box celebrates 3 of the 14 roasters recognized as finalists in this year’s Good Foods Awards coffee category. These roasters were selected from over 2,000 entries based on their premium coffee and commitment to fair trade standards, equity and inclusion and conservation behavior, at every stage of sourcing and production.
-
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters (@birdrockcoffeeroasters) was founded in San Diego’s La Jolla neighborhood in 2006. Six years later, they were recognized as Roast Magazine’s “Micro Roaster of the Year”. In 2019, Forbes Magazine recognized Bird Rock as one of the top 12 roasters in the country. In 2021, Bird Rock was 1 of 14 Good Foods Award winners — an accomplishment repeated in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
The award-winning roaster’s mission is centered around community: from the neighborhoods that they serve to the origins from which they source “direct trade” coffee. This approach prioritizes higher wages for origin farmers and the use of more sustainable practices to reinforce a long-lasting relationship.
On June 9, 2020, Bird Rock also posted an Anti Racism statement committing the company publicly to equality, justice and treating each other with dignity and respect.
-
The Dumerso Natural roast is single origin light roast from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. Dimerson Natural is farmed by Senay Hailemariam at an altitude from 1850 to 2200 meters above sea level.
-
TASTING NOTES
Cherry Tart, Pink Lemonade, MarshmallowORIGIN
Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
-
The most time-tested roaster that we have featured yet, PT’s Coffee Roasting Company (@ptscoffee) was founded in 1993 in Topeka, Kansas by Jeff Taylor and Fred Polzin. Like their sister company, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, direct trade coffee sourcing accounts for nearly 80% PT’s coffee. The 2009 Roast Magazine’s “Macro Roaster of the Year” also roasted Good Foods Awards finalists in 2020 and 2021 and winners in 2013 and 2021.
Meet the Farmers involved in PT’s Direct Trade program and check out the Finca Las Mercedes family of farms located in the high mountains of southeastern El Salvador. It is here that the journey began for this month’s El Pepinal 1 single-origin coffee.
-
”Our first Central American offering of the season is a winner! El Pepinal 1 boasts aromas of white peach, nougat, and coriander, with notes of cocoa and graham cracker when brewed. The silky body lingers into a finish of white peach and sandalwood.
Finca Las Mercedes' El Pepinal 1 lot is made up of Bourbon and SL28. The cherries are screened for quality and are only selected if they have achieved peak ripeness. After sorting and screening, the fresh cherries are sent immediately to Las Mercedes' on-site wet mill. The cherries are washed in ceramic tile ditches and sent into the pulper where the flesh of the fruit is separated from the bean. After being fed through the pulper, the parchment enters washing channels to separate any remaining mucilage.
The coffee is then laid out on clay tile patios to dry for 7-10 days, depending on the moisture content and amount of sunlight each patio receives.”
-
TASTING NOTES
Nougat, White Peach, CocoaORIGIN
Usulután Department, El Salvador
-
Husband and wife team, Marcus and Jenni Contaldo, started Modest Coffee Roasters (@modestcoffee) in 2013. The animal loving power couple prioritize social and environmental sustainability and have taken the Living Wage pledge to pay all employees no less than $15 per hour and guarantee consistent raises.
The woman operated and majority owned roaster has also adopted transparent policies to combat discrimination and harassment of any type in their workplace.
In 2021, Modest Coffee Company was 1 of 14 Good Foods Award winners — their first time receiving the recognition. In four of the previous five years, roaster Marcus Contaldo set his sights on the prestigious award inching closer and closer each year.
Learn more about his journey to the 2021 finals in his riveting blog post.
-
”Uganda Bududa is sourced from the Endiro Growers Bukalasi Women’s Group, a woman-led cooperative of coffee growers with 200 member families. Their coffee is fully organic and sustainably grown on the slopes of the Mount Elgon range in eastern Uganda.
Since 2015, this coffee project has resulted in a six-fold increase in average household income, the construction of the village’s first primary school and a small medical clinic. Going forward, the farmers are planning strategies to combat malaria in their village, to grow educational opportunities for their children, and to improve their infrastructure for further economic advancement and poverty alleviation.”
-
TASTING NOTES
Dark Chocolate, Earthy, RichORIGIN
Bududa, Uganda