Aussies aren’t a particularly picky bunch…until it comes to coffee. We’ll settle for a soggy meat pie from the servo, but only in desperate circumstances will we opt for a dodgy instant brew. Call it caffeine snobbery, but that’s what happens when you grow up in a country spoiled by world-class roasters and baristas. If you’re a fellow coffee connoisseur, you’ll want to take a peek at the winners from the latest national coffee competition.
This month, the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show – one of the country’s most prestigious food competitions showcasing products made from at least 85 per cent local ingredients – crowned Australia’s best coffee roasters. After hours of tasting and judging, Brisbane’s Coffee Mentality emerged as the overall winner with its 100 per cent single-origin Australian-grown blends. However, an underrated northern NSW roaster scooped up medals in three of the four specialty coffee categories.
Hidden in the mountains above Nimbin – one hour from Byron Bay – Mountain Top Coffee took home one silver medal and two bronze medals. It’s 100 per cent Australian-grown Microlot blend, with notes of watermelon, apple and sultana, won silver in the piccolo category and bronze in the plunger category. Meanwhile, the Nimbin blend, made from a mix of natural and washed processed beans and boasting flavours of plum, apple and raisin, won bronze in the latte category.
It’s not the first time owner Denise Whitney and roaster Bernard Rooney have won big at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show. Since taking over the 1998-established farm in 2020, Mountain Top has racked up multiple gold medals, including the title of Australia’s best overall coffee in its very first year of entry in 2021.
Their estate sits in one of the world’s southernmost coffee-growing regions, specialising in Kenyan (K7) arabica beans renowned for their sweet, chocolatey flavours and vibrant fruitiness. These flavours are enhanced by the slow ripening that occurs in the farm’s unique low-latitude location, enriched with volcanic soils and a subtropical climate. Time for a coffee break? You can check out a full list of winners here.