In 2017 our Signature Blend was awarded one Gold Star in the prestigious Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste awards.  Signature Blend was our first coffee, so the award felt like a major endorsement of the focus we’ve had from the beginning on roasting coffee that tastes great.  In this blog we’ve invited our resident coffee expert, Jonny, to tell you about the Great Taste awards and what the judges liked about our Signature Blend.  Jonny is one of only two Q Grade qualified coffee graders in the UK, the highest qualification achievable for professional coffee tasters.

“Food, or drink, awarded a Great Taste star-rating has gone through a very rigorous taste test. Judged by chefs, restaurateurs, food hall & deli buyers, acclaimed cooks, food writers and critics, every product has passed the palate test of a minimum of eight experts.  The judges are looking for truly great taste.   They take into account the texture, appearance and they like a good aroma, a decent bite, a smooth finish or a lingering flavour.  Everything comes back to taste.  Is it really, truly great?  Having awarded 1 star, the judges feel our Signature Blend is “simply delicious” and, as such, they have recognised it as one of the best tasting coffee blends in the UK.

I work with Simon and David to help them ensure that every coffee Spiller and Tait offers to customers delivers the flavour characteristics we know are valued by the majority of today’s fresh coffee drinkers.  We strive for every coffee to be smooth, rich, balanced and lacking in bitterness.  We know we don’t have complete control over the flavour of the coffee you make, because there are so many variables which contribute to coffee taste.  But, for those elements we control, like bean provenance, bean type and roast level, we are obsessively focused on achieving these flavour traits, as well as making sure that the underlying characteristics of the bean flavour, otherwise known as “notes”, really come through. 

As our first coffee, we spent a lot of time trying to make sure our Signature Blend hit this mark.  So, we were delighted Signature Blend stood out for the Great Taste judges due to its “deep smoothness” and “ease of drinking” as well as the flavour notes of “dark chocolate, almond and caramel.”  And clearly this works for our customers because our Signature Blend has now become one of the best-selling coffees online in the UK.

Going forward, we’re planning to enter other Spiller and Tait coffees into the Great Taste awards and we’re looking forward to seeing how they get on.  I’m modestly confident!  However, until then, Simon and David have asked me to do a quick video to describe what our Signature Blend is all about.  I hope it helps” 

Jonny