Tea and coffee company receive 22 accolades
After weeks of blind tasting over 12,600 products, Newcastle-based tea and coffee firm Ringtons has been awarded a staggering 22 accolades in the sought-after Great Taste food and drinks awards.
Ringtons received 14 Great Taste awards for its tea products, six for its coffee and two for biscuits. Nine of the awards were given to the company’s recently launched loose leaf collection, and six were awarded to coffee products – the first time Ringtons has received awards for its coffee range. Six of the winning products were deemed ‘beyond delicious’ and given 2-star rating, while 16 received a 1-star ‘fantastic flavour’ accolade.
Ringtons buys, blends, roasts and packs all of its fresh coffee, tea and infusions in its own facilities in the UK and its products are sold exclusively via its traditional doorstep delivery service, online store and Beverages for Business division. A substantial 17 of this year’s winning products are part of the company’s thriving Beverages for Business division and available to hotels, cafes, restaurants and businesses throughout the UK.
Judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs and producers, as well as a whole host of food writers and journalists, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and specialty food producers. As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakable black and gold Great Taste label is a signpost to a wonderful tasting product, which has been discovered through hours and hours of blind-tasting by hundreds of judges.
Jon Malton, Ringtons Divisional Director explains: “We are particularly proud to be recognised by the UK’s most prestigious food and drinks awards and receive our 40th Great Taste accolade to date. It is particularly rewarding to have received our first Great Taste Awards for six of our coffee products, having recently invested heavily in our coffee roasting and packing facilities in Newcastle. In addition, we have launched three new coffee products this year which have all won Great Taste awards – our Triple Certified Bean even won a 2-star award. Our new loose-leaf collection has also been given nine accolades, and this range has been launched as both a wholesale and retail product so our customers can serve and sell the winning teas and infusions in fresh, high-quality doy packaging.”
There were 12,634 entries into Great Taste this year and of those products, 192 have been awarded a 3-star, 1,207 received a 2-star and 3,254 were awarded a 1-star accolade. The panel of judges this year included; MasterChef 2018 champion, Kenny Tutt, chef and food writer, Elly Curshen, eco chef and food writer, Tom Hunt, author and chef, Zoe Adjonyoh, baker Tom Herbert, author and blogger, Izy Hossack, and baker and recipe writer, Martha Collison, as well as food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges and Sourced Market. These esteemed palates have together tasted and re-judged the 3-star winners to finally agree on the Golden Fork Trophy winners and the Great Taste 2018 Supreme Champion.
Great Taste 2018 will reach its exciting finale on Sunday 2 September, when the world of fine food gathers at the InterContinental Park Lane Hotel, London to find out the Great Taste Golden Fork trophy winners for each region, with the final applause reserved for the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2018.
