Australian International Coffee Awards 2013 Winners announced
Victoria’s Cartel Coffee Roasters has been named as Champion Australian Roaster in the inaugural Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA). New Zealand’s Toasted Espresso has been named as Champion International Roaster.
Announced at the opening day of the 2013 Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE2013) in May 2013, the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) presented two champion roaster trophies and three best in class trophies to local and international coffee roasters as part of the AICA.
A total of 174 medals were awarded – four gold, 30 silver and 140 bronze. Cartel Coffee Roasters also took out Champion Filter Coffee for its Cartel Roaster Sumatran Lintong.
Champion Espresso was awarded to New South Wales coffee company, Belaroma Coffee Roasting Company, for its Belaroma Single Origin. Champion Milk Based Coffee was presented to Queensland company The Coffee Roaster Pty Ltd for its TCR 33-BYS.
“Australia is recognised globally for its outstanding coffee and its reputation as an international coffee capital has been further strengthened with the introduction of the AICA, which has been embraced by the coffee community both in Australia and abroad,” said Mark O’Sullivan, RASV CEO.
The AICA is Australia’s first international coffee roasting competition. It attracted 603 entries from more than 130 coffee roasters globally. Entries were judged by a panel of 28 experts, including highly-acclaimed barista and consultant Emma Markland-Webster, over three days at Melbourne Showgrounds.
Organisers of the AICA said the awards provide coffee roasters with an opportunity to have their coffee assessed and benchmarked by industry experts. Entrants also receive “valuable feedback” and are able to market their coffee with the AICA’s seal of excellence.
The 2013 AICA champion trophy winners are:
- Champion Australian Roaster Trophy – Cartel Coffee Roasters, Victoria, Australia
- Champion International Roaster Trophy – Toasted Espresso, Takapuna, New Zealand
- Champion Espresso – ‘Belaroma Single Origin Kenya Mukurwe AB’, Belarama Coffee Roasting Company, New South Wales, Australia
- Champion Milk Based Coffee – ‘TCR 33-BYS’, The Coffee Roaster Pty Ltd, Queensland, Australia
Coffee trends in Australia
The way Australians drink coffee has changed in the last decade. A report from market research organisation Roy Morgan Research suggested that consumption of barista-made coffee was on the rise, with fresh coffee purchases increasing from 24 per cent to 26 per cent between 2003 and 2011.
The report, ‘The State of the Nation’, also found that a total of 55 per cent of Australians aged 14 or over went to a cafe for coffee or tea in previous three month period, up from 48.4 per cent in March 2003.
Mobile coffee cart franchise, Cafe2U, says that the continued growth in popularity of barista-made coffee has also seen the market for mobile coffee vans “boom”.
Meanwhile, the Roy Morgan report suggested that Australians seem less excited about instant coffee. It found that in the five-year period leading up to June 2011, the number of Australians who purchased instant coffee in an average four-week period declined from 47 per cent to 43 per cent.
“The figures show that coffee palettes are maturing and members of the workforce are willing to leave work to get a decent coffee in place of having an instant coffee,” said Derek Black, Managing Director of Cafe2U.
“However, being busy, workers might not always find the time to get to a cafe. Mobile coffee businesses such as Cafe2U are thriving in this current climate because we can bring this barista service directly to the worker. They can save time without compromising on quality,” Mr Black said.
But the instant coffee sector has still seen growth in the last few years. According to data from global market research organisation Nielsen published in Retail World Grocery Guide 2012, the grocery value of instant coffee in 2012 was $673.9 million, up 2.9 per cent from the previous year. Sales volume also saw a growth of 5.9 per cent.
According to the Nielsen data, Nescafe was the most popular brand of instant coffee in Australia, with 60.9 per cent value share and 59.6 per cent volume share in 2012. Moccona was the next biggest brand in the instant coffee market, with 23 per cent value share and 16.6 per cent volume share. Other popular brands in 2012 included International Roast, Jarrah and Lipton.
Great, this company can start to replace the coffee served at McDonalds and Hungry Jacks, most restaurants and cafe’s, so Australians can get a descent coffee. It amazes me that alot of effort goes into getting a barista and we have a massive amount of barista training companies in Australia, and yet the same business that goes to the effort of hiring a great barista then uses cheap blended coffee that tastes like old dishwater.