Mad Priest Coffee Roasters is thrilled to announce that they have been named one of the 2022 Good Food Awards 25 Coffee Finalists alongside the best coffee roasters in the county. Their Yemenia Bait Alal Special Reserve Coffee met all of the GFA responsible production criteria, in addition to being a top scorer in the August Blind Tasting amongst a pool of almost 2,000 entries in the coffee category.
As a Finalist, they are also taking part in the first-ever Good Food Awards Finalists Pop Up Shop, a two-week long e-commerce shop, showcasing all the Finalists, which went live on Monday.
From the Good Food Awards website, “Each January the Good Food Awards presents the nearly 200 Winners: the exceptional food crafters who top the charts in a Blind Tasting and meet the environmental and social responsibility standards of the Good Food Awards. Over 2,000 entries from all 50 states are submitted each year.”
Mad Priest’s coffee submission to GFA from Yemen has a story behind it as well. Last fall, Mad Priest made a bold move and bid on a lot of the newly discovered coffee mother species “Yemenia” in the “Best of Yemen” 2020 Auction. The auction was in partnership with Qima Coffee in Yemen and Alliance for Coffee Excellence and drew some of the biggest names in coffee from around the world to pay upwards of $140 per pound for this new coffee species. They took this risk by purchasing some of the world’s most expensive coffee, because they wanted to take a stand to help Yemeni farmers in the midst of the ongoing humanitarian crisis there, and as well as raise awareness for Yemenia, called “the coffee discovery of the century”.
And they did just that.
Not only did they quickly sell all of their Yemenia coffee around the holiday season, they began a relationship with Qima Coffee which extended further to help Qima Foundation with their big “Amal Yemen” event-turned-movement in 2020. And Mad Priest was invited to join the prestigious international jury of coffee professionals to judge the coffees from Yemen to be in the 2021 Best of Yemen Auction.
So their Yemenia Bait Alal coffee, a new Yemenia from this year’s harvest, isn’t just a revolutionary coffee that placed in the finalists of the Good Food Awards. It is also a symbol of the relationship Mad Priest has built with Qima Coffee and the incredible work they are doing in Yemen investing in coffee farmers, the future of coffee, and the future of the country. This achievement is a massive win for Mad Priest, but even more, it’s a win for Yemen.
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This achievement from GFA comes right on the heels of Mad Priest’s recent branding launch, “The confirmation of Mad Priest”. In a culture of rich memoirs and coming-of-age stories, Mad Priest is doing the very same thing as a brand -- learning self-acceptance and confidence as they have sought to find their place in the world of specialty coffee. As part of the “lean-in” to the brand, they have launched a new website with new coffees, merch, and a new customer experience in their retail locations.
As they stated in their announcement on social media: “It’s the “confirmation” of Mad Priest, friends. We’re growing up and finding ourselves as a brand. It’s true, we’ve been through that dark night of the soul and now we’re ready to shine. Join us on our journey as we go all in on the Mad Priest brand! Just be warned, there will be lots of good coffee, and lots of fun. Because, life is too short for bad coffee…and taking ourselves too seriously.”
Their website further explains their mission: “To curious people who are sick of the bland, corporate, heretical coffee experience, Mad Priest Coffee Roasters is the unconventional, creative, sacred coffee choice. While we may be irreverent, we always take our coffee and our mission seriously. Because we are mad about injustice, especially societal inequality...and bad coffee.”