Huhtamaki 2011 New Zealand Coffee awards.

Coffee Lab has won the Supreme Award at the 2011 Awards with their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, which also won the Organic Award.

The awards, now in their 7th year, judge freshly roasted coffees from New Zealand’s coffee roasting companies.

Over two days the judging panel, headed by one of the world’s leading coffee authorities Instaurator (that is his full legal name), tasted nearly 300 coffees entered by 65 roasting companies.

For full results see below or the Hall of Fame.

Coffee Lab, run by roaster Anna McGregor and her husband Rob McGregor, was established after the couple returned from Brazil in 1991. Their boutique roastery roasts both single origin coffees and blends, but it was a single origin Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee that brought them the Gold Award in the Organic category and also the Supreme Award.

Another big winner this year was Rush Coffee from Wellsford which won 2 Gold Medals this year. Their Rush Espresso blend took out 2 Gold and a Silver in 3 categories.

“The fact that the judges picked this blend as outstanding in three categories showed just how consistent the judges were in their tasting and decisions,” said Instaurator.

Roasting companies from throughout New Zealand entered this year’s awards and took home awards. Wanganui’s Wildcat Coffee, Napier’s Flight Coffee Havelock North’s Hawthorne Coffee, Nelson’s Pomeroys Coffee and Toxic Coffees, Essenza Coffee from Morrinsville, Taupo’s Summit Coffeee, Wellington’s Revive Espresso, The Grind from Upper Moutere, Ris'tretto, Coffee Worx and Vivace from Christchurch, Max from Kerikeri, Fixation and Excelso from Tauranga, New Plymouth’s Peru Coffee , and Coromandel’s Coffee Lala all took out awards.

_________________________________

2011 Awards

Huhtamaki Supreme Award
Coffee Lab (Auckland)


Huhtamaki Best NZ Espresso
Gold: Fixation (Tauranga).
Silver: Ris’tretto (Chch), Coffee Lab (Ak), Rush (Wellsford).
Bronze: Espresso Workshop (Ak), Pomeroys (Nelson), Roma (Ak), Switch (Napier), Celcius (Lower Hutt), Cigana (Ak).

Meadowfresh Best Flat White
Gold: Rush (Wellsford), Summit (Taupo)
Silver: Volt (Ak), Bruno Rossi (Ak), Coffee & Tea Lovers (Ak).
Bronze: Altezano (Ak), Max (Kerikeri), Barista Empire (Ak), Excelso (Tauranga).

NetInsites Best Organic
Gold: Coffee Lab (Ak).
Silver: Jungle (Ak), Toxic (Stoke).
Bronze: Espresso Workshop (Ak), Ignite (Ak), Zee (Ak), Volt (Ak).

Sherpac Best Foodservice Plunger
Gold: Barista Empire (Ak).
Silver: Ambition (Roma (Ak), Veni (Ak).
Bronze: Celcius (Lower Hutt), Flight (Napier), Wildcat (Wanganui), Volt (Ak).

Mazzer Best Ethically Traded
Gold: Flight (Napier).
Silver: Hawthorne (Havelock North), Celcius (Lower Hutt).
Bronze: Fixation (Tauranga), CoffeeWorx (Chch), Esseza (Morrinsville), Veni (Ak).

Café magazine Best Supermarket Plunger
Gold: Gravity (Ak).
Silver: Max (Kerikeri), CoffeeWorx (Chch), Rush (Wellsford).
Bronze: Hawthorne (Bronze), Coffee LaLa (Coromandel), Peru (New Plymouth), Pomeroys (Nelson), Revive (Wellington), Vivace (Christchurch).

Best Supermarket Espresso
Gold: Rush (Wellsford).
Silver: Gravity (Ak), The Grind (Upper Moutere).
Bronze: Celcius (Lower Hutt), Switch (Napier), Karajoz (Ak), FRED (Ak), Max (Kerikeri).

MIT Best Decaffeinated
Gold: Cigana (Ak)
Silver: Excelso (Tauranga), Coffee Lab (Ak).
Bronze: Toasted Espressso (Ak), Puhoi Coffee, Robert Harris (Ak), Altura (Ak), Barista (Ak), Orb (Ak).

-------------------------------

Our Naming rights sponsor.

Huhtamaki have very kindly provided sponsorship for the New Zealand Coffee awards. Huhtamaki make many of the groovy paper cups you enjoy great NZ Coffee in. Make sure you support them, and our NZ roasters, by drinking lots of coffee!

Other sponsors:

____________________

Judging details and about the awards

The judging took place over 3 days from 10-12 October at the MIT- Manukau Institute of Technology.

Our chief judge is an Australian, Instaurator, the respected coffee guru and roasting genius. He was chosen for his expertise and neutrality. Each year we invite any experienced NZ roaster to join our panel of judges, the more the merrier! Everything was tasted blind and strictly supervised.

Roasters list. We maintain a data base of our finest coffee experts. If you wish to be part of our roasters list or want to amend any details on this list please contact us.

For any other queries and questions, please contact us.

__________________________________________

New Zealand Coffee Roasters database.

Go to our Roasters page to find your favourite roaster or search for local roasteries. Contact us to add your company to our list.

See sponsors links here