The 5^th annual Good Food Awards ceremony took place on January 8^th in San Francisco, celebrating the best in American food producers and farmers. Every year since its inception, the GFA honors some of the most delicious and responsibly produced foods, bringing their producers some well-earned recognition and publicity. Categories include beer, charcuterie, cheese, pickles, honey, oils, chocolate, and coffee, with several winners in each group. A few Colorado specialty food purveyors were awarded for their products, including Ozuké for their pickled plums and Avalanche Cheese Company for their goat cheeses and goat chorizo.

Although none of the third wave coffee roasters of Colorado were awarded, Denver based Commonwealth Coffee was one of the finalists. Commonwealth was recognized for their single origin coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Konga. In fact, a majority of the finalists and winners were Ethiopian or Kenyan coffees.

2014 was a good year for Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees, which is not surprising since both countries have a long history of being top coffee producers. Currently, Commonwealth is offering two African coffees from a less famous coffee producing country—Burundi. You can buy bags of their coffee online or at select retailors in Arvada, Denver, and Greenwood Village.

Javaher Nooryani