Did you know that food and drink have their own awards season? Earlier this year, Pact donned its evening dress and hit the red carpet to take part in the Guild of Fine Foods’ Great Taste Awards. Taking place over 60 days (that’s a lot of costume changes…), these awards have been called the ‘Oscars’ of the food world – and it’s literally a star-studded event.
The “largest and most trusted accreditation scheme for fine food and drink”, the Great Taste Awards involves getting 500 judges and 65 food writers together in a variety of locations to meticulously blind-test over 12,000 different products. And of those 12,000 products, a select number will receive a one, two or three-star rating – just 37% of products received accreditation this year! And that included two of our very own coffees!
The ever-popular Planalto and the incredible Nyarusiza Ngara both received a Great Taste Awards star (that means they’ve been deemed “simply delicious”)!
It’s not hard to see why. The Planalto is a super thick, super creamy cup filled with milk chocolate and malt flavours – hugely popular with Pact customers, so it’s clear you all have good taste! But for something a little different, the Nyarusiza Ngara is also a fantastically good coffee. Flavour notes of honey and blackcurrant, with a coating mouthfeel, it’s definitely deserving of that star!
We’re not the type to blow our own trumpet… but really, this is Sergio Mantonvanni’s and Mukashyaka Epiphanie’s success.
The Planalto farm is one the larger ones we work with, but Sergio hasn’t become complacent. He’s really proved his commitment to quality in the past year, taking farm manager Acacio to attend a honey processing workshop – just one of the ways that Planalto keeps getting better.
As for Epiphanie – you can read about her massive impact on the coffee world here. She’s a pretty impressive woman. Taking on the supply chain single-handedly, she survived a genocide to become the first woman to own a washing station. Now the owner of Bufcoffee and winner of a Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government award, she’s clearly going from strength to strength!
Congratulations Sergio and Epiphanie, and a big thanks to the Great Taste Awards!
