Cafédirect, the UK’s pioneering Fairtrade hot drinks company, is celebrating winning eight prestigious Gold Great Taste Awards - leading the hot beverages category this year. This, undoubtedly, shows that Fairtrade coffee and tea and other drinks do not have to be low class and mediocre.
Since the early days of Fairtrade when there was often lowish quality a result of the way things were done thins is no longer the case. Today, as can be seen here, Fairtrade brands lead the field in taste.
Regarded as the food and drink industry’s Oscars, The Guild of Fine Food’s annual Great Taste Awards are the UK’s largest independent evaluation of gourmet and fine food and drink.
Leading the bumper crop of awards was Cafédirect’s Organic Mount Elgon gourmet coffee beans, which scooped the coveted three star Gold award. A three star gold award is a great achievement, and shows that the expert judges considered the single origin Ugandan beans from the Gumutindo co-operative on the slopes of Mount Elgon to be faultless. Just 72 out of the 4753 entries this year were awarded three stars.
“This prestigious award is a culmination of years of collaboration between Gumutindo and Cafédirect in farmer education, along with Fairtrade incentives.” Nimrod Wambette, Chairman of Gumutindo Cooperative, Mt Elgon, Uganda.
Cafédirect’s Cloud Forest gourmet coffee beans received an impressive two gold stars, single origin 100% Arabica beans grown in the mountains of the stunning cloud forests of Nicaragua.
Matthew Drennan, Editor of delicious. magazine says “Eight Great Taste Awards is a fantastic achievement, a true reflection of Cafédirect’s brand ethos and the superb quality of its fresh ground coffee and coffee beans. Re-investing a high proportion of its profits to educate the growers in how to improve their beans means there’s every chance the quality of next year’s harvest will be even better. I’m enjoying the fruits of their labours this year, but I’m already looking forward to next year’s!”
The following coffees and teas won one gold star award – noted for their general excellence in taste, texture and flavour. Teadirect Gold tea (bags), launched this year. An exquisite blend of leaves from Cafédirect’s grower partners in Kenya, Rwanda and Assam in India, expertly blended for depth of flavour and aroma. Three coffees from Cafédirect’s gourmet fresh ground coffee range won one gold star each: Organic Palenque made from 100% Arabica beans sourced purely from Mexico, Kilimanjaro fresh ground Arabica coffee grown on the steep slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and Organic Machu Picchu sourced solely from Peruvian coffee beans grown on the lush mountains surrounding Machu Picchu. Organic Medium Roast fresh ground coffee also won one gold star, as did Cafédirect’s Organic decaffeinated premium freeze dried instant coffee.
Zachary Dominitz, Head of Corporate Affairs for Cafédirect says, “We are delighted, but not surprised, that our products have excelled on taste. Growers are the heart of Cafédirect, and our direct relationships with them – and their pride in their work – guarantee we get the best possible produce, and that’s reflected in the quality of our hot drinks. “In the last three years alone we have reinvested 60% of our profits directly into growers' organisations and communities, enabling them to build sustainable businesses and continually improve the quality of their crops. And it shows!"
For further information about Cafédirect’s award-winning products and the rest of the range, visit www.cafedirect.co.uk. The site is also full of information about Cafédirect’s grower partners, its pioneering work in Fairtrade and it’s Climate Change project.
“Through their Producer Partnership Programme, Cafédirect has gone out of the box to show there is a lot more that can be done than just Fairtrade. The extra effort made in building farmer and management capacity in a bid to sustain supplies of tea has been received by us farmers and factory staff with appreciation. It has placed Cafédirect in a class of its own which is worthy of my respect.”Julius Ethang'atha, Tea Grower, Michimikuru, Kenya.
“When our cooperative first began working with Cafédirectover five years ago I didn’t believe there would be anychange in our lives. Now I am sitting here today feeling veryhappy. The growers are paid better prices and receivetraining. Cafédirect is not like the others. I did not believeanything would change but now it is changing.” Emiliana Aligaesha, Coffee Grower, KDCU, Tanzania.
AwardsTeadirect, Cafédirect’s tea brand, was a finalist in the Hot Beverage category in the 2008 Branded Excellence Awards.
In a survey of 2,000 global brands Cafédirect ranks No. 1 as the most recommended brand (Source: Millward Brown, March 2007).
Combining taste, price, ethics, and availability, Teadirect tops the Fairtrade Tea category: New Consumer Magazine, February 2008.
About CafédirectGrowers play a key role in every aspect of Cafédirect, from governance to product design. They own shares in the company and have 2 directors on the Board.
Together with their grower partners, Cafédirect shares a passion for producing the best quality teas, coffees and drinking chocolate. The company's latest is the premium Teadirect Gold, is now available at Waitrose.
Cafédirect was founded in 1991, predating Fairtrade in the UK by three years and was the first coffee brand to carry the mark. With a turnover of £22.3 million (2006/07), Cafédirect are the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company, the 5th largest coffee brand and 7th largest tea brand.
Cafédirect’s work has directly improved the lives of 1.4 million people in developing countries by partnering with nearly 300,000 smallholder growers through 39 grower organisations across 13 developing countries.
Over the last 3 years the company has invested on average 60% of profits in the businesses and communities of its grower partners.
Supporting sustainable development, Cafédirect pioneered a minimum price for tea growers, and reward growers for quality and organic produce.
Cafédirect's range of delicious 100% Fairtrade coffees, teas, and hot chocolate is available in major supermarkets, independent retailers, Oxfam shops, Traidcraft mail order, and the Cafédirect online store, as well as thousands of food service venues, such as hospitals, universities, schools and hotels. They are also available in Ireland, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
To learn more about Cafédirect visit
www.cafedirect.co.uk.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), August 2008
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