Auckland’s Orb Coffee has won the Supreme Award for the second time in 10 years in the Huhtamaki New Zealand Coffee Awards.
A total of 313 entries were entered by 80 New Zealand Coffee roasting companies for the awards, now in their 11th year. Orb, a coffee brand owned by Cerebos Greggs, won 2 of the 8 Gold Medals plus a Silver Medal.
The medal tally was dominated by Auckland based coffee roasters, but Kerikeri’s Max Coffee bucked the trend to prove itself one of the country’s leading coffee roasters by winning a total of five medals, including a prestigious Gold. It won top honour in the Supermarket Plunger award, Silver medals for Ethically Traded coffee and Supermarket Espresso, plus Bronze in Single Origin and Organic.
The awards, held at the Bell Tea & Coffee Company, were judged by a team of 12 judges, headed by international coffee expert Instaurator. Roasting companies entered their coffees for eight categories – Best Espresso, Traditional Flat White, Best Organic, Best Ethically Traded, Best Supermarket Plunger, Best Supermarket Espresso, Best Single Origin and Best Foodservice Plunger.
“The category that really showed great improvement this year was the Single Origin category,” said Instaurator. “The coffees were much more sophisticated. They were more refined showing much more interesting nuanced flavours. This is probably because the roasting style in New Zealand has changed.
“New Zealand’s coffees can hold their head high when compared to the rest of the world.”
The Major Awards were –
- Supreme Award: Orb Coffee, Auckland.
- Huhtamaki Best Espresso Gold: Ambition Coffee (Auckland)
- Meadowfresh Traditional Flat White Gold: Jungle Coffee (Auckland)
- Best Organic Gold: Volt Espresso (Auckland)
- Best Ethically Traded Gold: Orb Coffee (Auckland)
- Best Supermarket Plunger Gold: Max Coffee (Kerikeri)
- Best Supermarket Espresso: Wildcat Coffee (New Plymouth)
- Best Single Origin Gold: Espresso Workshop (Auckland)
- Best Foodservice Plunger Gold: Orb (Auckland).
