Coffee is a dreamy way to spend time. It's ever-changing, intelligent, sensory. It's all about relationships. And it's fun!
A few weeks ago we attended the Sustainable Harvest coffee conference, Let's Talk Coffee, in Mexico, where they announced the winners for the preeminent Roaster of the Year award. Thank you to the crew at Sustainable Harvest for the lovely event and to Roast Magazine for all that you do for this industry.
For those lucky enough to be in coffee, you understand the import of winning best Roaster of the Year. This is HUGE, a really big honor. We stand in the company of the best roasters in the world, and we humbly happily accept the honor. To be sure, this belongs to all of the Mudhouse team. This belongs to all of the folks who helped us climb this mountain, our present crew and our past, the people who serve as support, our teachers and our customers. We share this with all of you. Shall we clink a cup in celebration?
Some details on the award:
The Roaster of the Year award is widely considered the most prestigious honor in the specialty coffee industry. It recognizes companies that roast coffees of superior quality, exemplify a dedication to sustainability, promote employee and community education, and demonstrate a strong commitment to the coffee industry, among other criteria. The magazine awards top honors in two categories: Micro Roaster of the Year, for companies roasting fewer than 100,000 pounds of coffee each year; and Macro Roaster of the Year, for companies roasting more than 100,000 pounds annually. Mudhouse Coffee Roasters won for best coffee in the Micro category and Thanksgiving Coffee Company took the Macro award. Both of this year’s winners were co-founded and are led by married couples—Lynelle and John Lawrence at Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, and Paul and Joan Katzeff at Thanksgiving Coffee Company.
Mudhouse’s longstanding community involvement and philanthropy, its commitment to education and support for its employees, and its focus on sustainable practices at home and at origin, were major factors in the company being named Micro Roaster of the Year. Mudhouse also distinguished itself with the recent launch of its new coffee farm in Panama, with partners Willem Boot and Kelly Hartmann. Farm-to-cup is extremely rare among small roasters.
Both Mudhouse Coffee Roasters and Thanksgiving Coffee Company are featured in Roast Magazine’s November/December 2016 issue, available online at www.roastmagazine.com.
We want to personally thank all of you for this recognition. We are dedicated to serving the best quality coffee around, but we wouldn't be here without the plethora of ideas, lessons, customers, coffee and roaster friends, our farmers and producers and our hard working beautiful beautiful staff. And of course this gorgeous thing we call coffee. Indeed, coffee is fun.
Love,
Lynelle & John
Award Winning Specialty Coffee
