A CEREDIGION coffee company has scooped an internationally-renowned award.

Based just above Tresaith beach in Ceredigion, Bay Coffee Roasters has been named among the top food and drink producers globally this year, picking up a highly prized 3 star Great Taste award for its ‘Indonesian Sumatran Fairtrade Organic’ at the world’s most coveted food and drink awards.

Bay Coffee Roasters are displaying their products at the trade huts at Pentre’ Ceredigion at the National Eisteddfod, giving visitors to the Eisteddfod a chance to sample their coffee blends.

Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else.

All products in the line-up for judging are blind-tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.

This year, the judging took place over 90 days across two judging locations (Dorset and London)  with a panel of more than 500 judges. This year’s line-up saw food and drink products submitted from a staggering 110 different countries from across the world.

More than 14,000 products were put through the competition’s rigorous blind judging process; and Bay Coffee Roasters was described as “A dark, rich deep crema. The aromas are redolent of the cedar veneer found in quality cigar tubes. Gentle, sweet, spicy flavours dance around the mouth and then come together in a balanced harmony that finishes with a sweet, slightly fermented linger. This is an extraordinary coffee, complex but wholly approachable. This is a full bodied coffee with spice notes at the front. It has complexity as well as being rounded and a burnt sugar finish that lingers.” 

241 products including Bay Coffee Roasters were awarded a Great Taste 3 star award for ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’.

Bay Coffee Roasters are unique in that all of their roasting is done using electricity sourced from a 100 per cent renewable windfarm in North Wales, avoiding the use of gas unlike many other coffee roasters.  The coffee is also imported in ways that support organisations that are designed to help improve the lives of those involved at the farm level such as Coffee Kids, Food 4 Farmers and International Women’s Coffee Alliance.

Duncan Gray, the owner of Bay Coffee Roasters said: “We are overwhelmed to have won a 3 star Great Taste award for our Indonesian Sumatran coffee.

“This is the fifth year we have won a Great Taste award and we feel it’s the continued sign of our desire to keep doing better.

“We’ve received tremendous support from our customers, and appreciate how the Welsh government has encouraged us through schemes such as Cywain and Menter a Busnes also our local council Ceredigion have given us opportunities to promote our products through the local markets and events.

“We still are mainly the family business that started on a small holding in Cenarth, but we have come a long way from the first coffee roaster we built ourselves, to a business that takes pride in trying to focus on environmentally friendly processing methods while still maintaining the high quality coffee that all can enjoy.”

Cllr Clive Davies, Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration said: “this excellent news for another successful business in Ceredigion is recognised for their high quality products.  I’m so pleased that Duncan and the team has been recognised for the fifth year running for their excellent quality of coffee, highlighting the quality of food producers in Ceredigion.  Bay Coffee Roasters bring employment to the area, and are an excellent example of what local entrepreneurs can achieve for the economy of Ceredigion.”