Panther Coffee, a longtime MistoBox featured roaster, is already taking 2014 by storm! In just 3 short weeks, Panther has placed themselves on the national Specialty Coffee radar in two huge ways this year.
First off, the Good Food Awards were created to recognize those producers who excel in their respective culinary fields. The awards are judged by experts in each field and range from beer, spirits, chocolate, charcuterie, cheese, confections, oils, preserves, pickles, and our favorite category, coffee. The Good Food Awards for coffee are judged on coffees that demonstrate exceptional flavor – including “sweet, clean, well-developed body, balanced acidity, and phenomenal aromatics”. Judging criteria also require that “roasters and farmers must emphasize fairness and transparency from seed to cup”.
Since the coffees entered into the Good Food Awards are from the country’s top roasters and are judged by the country’s most highly esteemed coffee professionals, earning a Good Food Award is a big deal. Panther Coffee earned not only one, but two Good Food Awards for 2014!
Their winning coffees:
Ethiopia Chelba – We know how truly delicious this coffee was since we featured it in last month’s Mid-December MistoBox!
Nicaragua Kailash
Check out the full list of winners in each category here -> Good Food Award Winners
And if that wasn’t a big enough deal on its own…
This past weekend competitors from the entire East Coast journeyed to Durham, North Carolina to compete in the Big Eastern Regional Barista and Brewer’s Cup Competitions. These annual regional events are huge gatherings of coffee professionals to demonstrate their knowledge, skill, and service of excellent coffee beverages.
The stakes are huge since only those competitors who place in the Top 6 from each region have a chance to compete at the National Barista Championship that is taking place in April in Seattle.
After a grueling weekend full of some truly stellar performances longtime Panther Coffee barista, Camila Ramos, took home 1st place in the South East Regional Barista Competition.
She competed using the Good Food Award-winning Nicaragua Kailash. You can watch her full routine here!
Congrats to Camila Ramos and the rest of the Panther Coffee crew! We can’t wait to see what they do next.
Want to learn about the best coffee in San Francisco? Or learn how to perfectly brew coffee at home!