The Revolver World Coffee Co-operative has won a Great Taste Award for the fifth year running.
The awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, are an acknowledged benchmark for fine food and drink. Winners are presented with a star rating for the taste and quality of their products.
Although many coffees are entered into the awards, there are comparatively few winners and only a small percentage are Fairtrade coffees.
West Midlands-based Revolver’s specialty Sumatra coffee achieved a one star rating. Judges described it as “big and bold, smooth within its strength boundary, perhaps a tad astringent. Some debate about the strength of extraction. But it fulfils amply extractions of Sumatran coffee, a sound choice.”
Revolver’s chair, John Boyle, said “It’s the people behind the scenes who make the magic happen, the credit goes to the farmers and their co-operatives who care-deeply about the product and our co-operative colleagues in stores, who make everything simple for shoppers.”
CEO Paul Birch, said: “This is the fifth year running we have won. It’s great to work with expert buyers and roasters who are able to get the best out of the product.”
The co-op has also launched a new range of luxury Belgian drinking chocolate in partnership with renowned Belgian chocolatiers Callebaut. The product is made out of real shards of milk or white chocolate.
The chocolate is part of the Cocoa Horizons Foundation – a programme that improves the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their communities through the promotion of sustainable, entrepreneurial farming, improved productivity and community development.
Revolver is organised as a multi-stakeholder co-operative, members include producers in the developing world. It ranks first for ethics as judged by Ethical Consumer Magazine.
