The UK’s best teas and coffees, as judged by the Guild of Fine Food, can now be promoted through the beverage trade with the gold star ratings they received in this year’s Great Taste Awards.

There has, however, been a slight murmur of enquiry over the judging of the coffees in this year’s awards as not a single coffee achieved the status of three gold stars, the highest possible rating.

In the judging standards defined by the Guild of Fine Food – one star is awarded for a product which is ‘close to perfect’, a two-star award means ‘faultless’, and a three-star award is described as: ‘Wow, you must taste this!’

This year, of 287 awards made in the tea, coffee and hot chocolate categories, only eight three-star awards were given and they were all for teas.

There has been a certain amount of debate about the results, however, it has been pointed out that the strict nature of the judging this year only underlines the credibility of the awards, and their value at retail… a one-star award, say the organisers, really does mean something. The thirteen two-star ‘faultless’ coffees are seen as something really very special.

The most notable performers in the beverage section overall were Newby Teas, who got twenty awards, and Teapigs, who took thirteen.

Among the top coffee performers, Baillies, the Irish roaster, got nine stars, although three of them were for tea; three of its coffees received two-star awards.  Bolling of Yorkshire got seven, two of them two-stars; so did Java Republic, all one-stars, three of which were for teas. Union Hand-Roasted took four, two of them two-stars. Percol got four for its roast-and-ground or whole-bean coffees (and said later that if they had known it was possible to win a Great Taste Award for instant coffee, they would have entered many of their products in that sector).  Tudor got five, including two two-stars, and Cafedirect got a remarkably well-spread five awards, which included teabags, ground coffee, hot chocolate and even an instant coffee.

In tea, the big stars were Newby, with 20 awards (three of them two-stars) and Teapigs, who took thirteen, including one of the rare three-stars, for its pure lemongrass. Twinings scored eleven, with four two-starred, all for its Tea Deli and Tea Rituals products. Whittard scored ten, made up of four teas, three coffees, and three hot chocolates. Clipper got nine, including a hot chocolate. Typhoo got in there for a Harrod’s English Breakfast.

The alphabetical list of beverage winners can be seen on the website of the coffee trade’s news magazine: www.coffee-house.org.uk.