OK NOW. WE'RE A WINNER!

RAISE A GLASS WITH US! 🥂 

The 2022 Good Food Award Winners* have just been announced, and we are one of them! We are so honored to be a GFA WINNER in the coffee category with our Yemenia Bait Alal Special Reserve (from Qima Coffee in Yemen). 

From the official press release: "The Good Food Foundation is thrilled to introduce the 244 exceptional crafters of food and drink from 39 states and Washington, D.C. who rose to the top to become 2022 Good Food Award Winners. Speaking to the sustainability and social responsibility practices of the Winners, René Redzepi noted: “I believe it is our collective efforts that can turn the tide and ensure our shared earth will survive. You are the champions of the future, and you are leading the way."

...This year’s Good Food Award Winners hail from 39 states and Washington, D.C. Chosen in a blind tasting from thousands of entries before passing a further sustainability and social responsibility vetting process, nearly half of the Winners are first-time awardees. 56% of the Winners are woman-owned businesses and one in six are BIPOC-owned businesses. Across 18 categories, each recognized crafter demonstrated exceptional taste and a deep commitment to building a more sustainable, just food system."

* * * 

And huge congrats to the other incredible coffee producers who won a Good Food Award this year, what a great company of fellow professions to be in! According to Sprudge Magazine, "From a field of 25 finalists, the expert panel of judges selected 15 winners this year, chosen for their “exemplary flavor—sweet, clean, well-developed body, balanced acidity, and phenomenal aromatics.” There were total of 244 winners in all categories, out of over 2,000 entries from all over the US! Here's the full list of coffee winners: 

Acorn Coffee Club, Las Lajas -Yellow Honey - Costa Rica, Minnesota 

Beanstock Coffee Roasters, Mexican Marco Cadena, Massachusetts 

Cloud City Coffee Roasting, Ethiopia Lecho Torka Fully Washed, Washington 

Giv Coffee, Ethiopia - Keramo, Connecticut 

H+S Coffee Roasters, Colombia Ernedis Rodriguez - Finca El Paraiso, Wyoming

Higher Grounds Trading Co., Karla Portillo, Michigan 

JBC Coffee Roasters, Las Margaritas Sudan Rume, Wisconsin 

Linea Coffee, Organic Ethiopia Bire Forest, California 

Mikava, Santuario Gesha, Oregon 

Mr. Espresso, Organic Ethiopia Shantewene - Natural Process, California 

Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters, Panama Bambito Estate Typica, Texas 

Per'La Specialty Roasters, Ethiopia Bombe, Florida 

Progeny Coffee, Piñita, California 

SkyTop Coffee, Finca Santa Maria, New York 

The Mad Priest Coffee Roasters, Yemenia Bait Alal Special Reserve, Tennessee 

* * *

This year was really special, according to Daily Coffee News: "Good Food Awards Coffee Committee Co-Chair Sandra Elisa Loofbourow told DCN that after a concerted effort over the past five years to broaden the diversity of coffee origins represented in the awards program, 2022 felt like a breakthrough year.

“There have been changes to the rules for the past three or four years,” said Loofbourow, noting the prominence of Ethiopian coffees throughout the competition’s history. “This is really the first year that we saw a significant increase in different origins.” " (Heck yeah! Let's see it for diverse representation from countries around the world, like Yemen!)

* * * 

This amazing honor wouldn't be possible without the tireless work of Qima Coffee in Yemen! Qima was founded with the vision of using coffee as a vehicle to sustainably improve lives and livelihoods, and they are doing it. We are so proud to be able to partner with them over the last year and share the incredible new mother coffee species, Yemenia, with the world. 

If you don't know the Yemenia story....In Fall 2020, we made a bold move and bid on a lot of the newly discovered coffee mother species “Yemenia” in the “Best of Yemen” 2020 Auction. The auction was in partnership with Qima Coffee in Yemen and Alliance for Coffee Excellence and drew some of the biggest names in coffee from around the world to pay upwards of $140 per pound for this incredible new coffee species. We took this risk by purchasing some of the world’s most expensive coffee, because we wanted to take a stand to help Yemeni farmers in the midst of the ongoing humanitarian crisis there, and as well as raise awareness for Yemenia, called “the coffee discovery of the century”. 

Since then, we began a relationship with Qima Coffee which extended further to help Qima Foundation with their big “Amal Yemen” event-turned-movement in 2020. And Mad Priest was invited to join the prestigious international jury of coffee professionals to judge the coffees from Yemen to be in the 2021 Best of Yemen Auction. 

So our Yemenia Bait Alal coffee isn’t just a revolutionary coffee that WON A GOOD FOOD AWARD! It is also a symbol of the relationship we’ve built with Qima Coffee and the incredible work they are doing in Yemen investing in coffee farmers, the future of the country, and the future of coffee globally. This achievement is a massive win for Mad Priest, but even more, it’s a win for Yemen. 

But seriously, what an amazing way to start the new year, right?! Thanks for being part of our journey, friends! We can't wait to share with you all the fun stuff that we have planned for 2022. 

*Haven't heard about The Good Food Awards by The Good Food Foundation? The Good Food Awards celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsible. Now in its twelfth year, awards will be given to winners in 18 categories: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, cider, coffee, confections, drinks, elixirs, fish, grains, honey, oils (tasted & announced in the spring), pantry, pickles, preserves, snacks and spirits. The Good Food Awards Seal, found on winning products, assures consumers they have found something exceptionally delicious that also supports sustainability and social good. Learn more here. 

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.