Have You Had Coffee from the Nation's Most Award Winning Roaster?

Ashland, Oregon's Noble Coffee Roasting Sets Record with Sixth Good Food Award Win

ASHLAND, Ore. (January 20, 2018) — Noble Coffee Roasting, a specialty coffee roasting company based out of Ashland, Oregon, is setting records with their sixth Good Food Award win. No other coffee roasting company in the country has won as many Good Food Awards as Noble Coffee Roasting during the history of the program. Additionally, Noble Coffee Roasting has been a finalist eight times during the eight years of the Good Food Awards, and this year, they are the only Oregon coffee roasting company to have made the finalist list, let alone win an award. Their coffee, Ethiopian ‘Bishan Fugu,’ was awarded a Good Food Award last night at the San Fransisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center. The Good Food Awards is the only prestigious objective awards program for coffee in America and, in the industry, is also referred to as ‘The Oscars of Coffee.’ So how do they win Good Food Awards year after year? What sets Noble Coffee Roasting apart is their dedication to sustainability and excellence throughout the supply chain.

Noble Coffee Roasting works directly with mills, co-ops, producers and high-quality importers who are equally committed to environmentally sound practices, and who are contributing to the improvement of the standard of living in coffee producing communities. Coffee growing regions are typically riddled with poverty. Noble Coffee Roasting’s mission has always been to improve lives through coffee from seed to cup. They only support the mills, co-ops, producers and importers who not only focus on organic agriculture and high quality, but who will use the funds for stimulating growth, education, and advanced processing techniques as well as helping lift people from poor living and working conditions. They’re not looking to make rich people more rich. They’re only supporting those who’s livelihood honestly depends on their support. A couple of Noble Coffee Roasting’s partners and importers Royal Coffee and Caravela Coffee deserve a lot of credit. Both of these importers share a similar vision with Noble Coffee Roasting of education, mutually beneficial relationships, professionalism, transparency, and outstanding quality.

All of this would be for naught if Noble Coffee Roasting’s customer base did not understand or appreciate the quality of their coffee and, more importantly, the guiding principles behind it. Through a thorough coffee education program and marketing, they’ve been able to spread this knowledge, particularly in Southern Oregon, in a potent way. All members of Noble Coffee Roasting’s wholesale program and their employees are given the opportunity to train at no extra cost with a professional barista during four two-hour hands-on coffee education classes. These classes are also offered for a small fee to the public. Previous to opening their coffeehouse and roastery in Ashland in 2009, there were no coffee roasters in the area. Now, there are lines out the door almost every morning and you’ll find Noble Coffee on the tables in the Rogue Valley’s finest restaurants, in the rooms at the fanciest hotels, and in many of the local markets and grocery stores. Because of the prevalence of their coffee in this area, Noble Coffee Roasting is able to purchase even more high quality coffees, like the ‘Bishan Fugu,’ thus expanding on their mission and improving even more lives along the way.

This past December, Jared Rennie, the founder of Noble Coffee Roasting, was given the opportunity to visit the Bishan Fugu district, a member of the Hambela Estate managed by METAD Agricultural Development PLC in Southern Ethiopia. METAD is coffee developer and exporter run by two brothers, Aman and Tariku Adinew, who represent the third generation of coffee production in their family. Shortly after World War II, the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie awarded Muluemebet Emiru, Africa’s first female pilot, land in the Sidamo and Guji zones. This land was transformed for coffee production and was the beginning of a multigenerational pursuit. Today, METAD’s goal is to put Ethiopia on the map as a serious high quality coffee exporter, and enrich the lives of all their producers, their families, and communities. Ethiopia is one of the few coffee producing regions in which the growers actually roast and brew their own product; coffee here is more than an agricultural commodity, it is a way of life.

When the Ethiopian coffee farmers are asked about Aman’s work with Hambela, Jared Rennie says, “The producers get tears in their eyes and place their hands on their hearts when they talk about Aman. His work has dramatically improved their lives, in ways they’d never be able to do on their own.” This is exactly the kind of impact Noble Coffee Roasting works towards daily. They have deep respect for the care that is taken during every step of coffee production and it shows in each and every one of their roasts. Their hard work continues to pay off, and now they can say unequivocally, that they are the most awarded coffee roasting company in the country.

Noble Coffee Roasting is a coffee roasting company based out of Ashland, Oregon. Now in their 11th year, their continued mission is to improve lives through coffee from seed to cup. Noble Coffee Roasting works closely with producers, regularly paying 3-4x the Fair Trade price for coffee. To emphasize their dedication to quality and sustainability, they believe to fairly compensate these farmers, the higher price is what their product justifies. For more information, please visit www.noblecoffeeroasting.com, or follow Noble Coffee Roasting on social media @noblecoffee.