The 2019 FNB Coffee Magazine Awards nominations are out! The FNB CMAs will be handed out at the FNB Creative Coffee Week's Gala Dinner on Saturday 29th June at the Waterfront Hotel in Durban, at the conclusion of the FNB Creative Coffee Week.
The FNB Coffee Magazine Awards was initiated in 2018 to bring South African Coffee Professionals together to recognize and celebrate excellence within the industry. We have grown the categories, increased the prestige of the awards and collaborated with a broad judging panel, made up of last year’s winner, to ensure the categories continue to be relevant and the results, accurate.
Besides the prestige and the naturally competitive nature of the Industry, it our intention to also reward those in the Industry who have made contributions to bettering the Industry – be it through philanthropy, mindfulness of the environment, influencing trends, innovation, growing the market or simply making decisions that shape our Industry into a more desirable place to want to have a career and spend one’s time. These awards, will now and in the future, celebrate diversity, champion transformation and reward those who create opportunities for others to flourish.
Dedication to Education Award
This award is handed out to the person or company who has dedicated their time to coffee education. The nominees are:
Belinda Flynn
Imile De Villiers
Dave Bassett
Alyssa Blom
Lizaan Alberts
Best Cafe Design
The spaces created for coffee add equally to the experience of enjoying that coffee. These are the nominees for the best designed Cafe spaces in South Africa:
Naked
Pauline's
Father Coffee
The Whippet
Coco Safar
Excellence in Coffee Award.
This Coffee Professional strives for and achieves excellence in their chosen area of the Coffee Production Chain. They are innovative, are recognized as a leadership figure in their field and are constantly inspiring others around them. The nominees are:
Mike MacDonald
Jono Le Feuvre
David Walstra
Cuth Bland
Nicodemus Nabakwe
Dylan & Robby Cumming
Donovan McLagan
Best New Cafe
Café’s are meeting places, they are spaces of community, business meetings, collaborations and first dates. We see new Café’s opening every month and the standard is increasing year on year – from better equipment, higher quality beverages, better service, to choice of design and outfitting, to creative seating, flow and ambience. Great toilets and bathrooms, and a fitting menu. Most off all though the criteria for this was based on the Café that opened in the last 24 months that has created something special where before it there was nothing. The nominees are:
Pauline's
Brik Cafe
Holiday Coffee
Swan Cafe
Skyline Cafe
Best New Roastery
This category seeks to recognize Roasteries that have opened in the last 3 years and are gaining reputations as up and coming in the South African scene. The nominees are:
Bluebird Coffee Roastery
Beethoven Coffee Roastery
Manaka Roastery
Arbor Coffee Roastery
Asmara Coffee
Best Alternative Brewing Experience
Aeropress, Chemex, Siphon or V60 pour-over to name a few! These are the nominees for the best alternative brewing experience in South Africa for 2018:
Colombo Coffee & Tea
Origin Coffee Roasting
Bean There
Rosetta Roastery
Espresso Lab
Father Coffee
Barista Trainer of the Year
These nominees are the very best Barista Trainers in the land. They teach and inspire, they train and they serve. They impart wisdom learned from thousands of hours behind the espresso machine and their subject matter is technique, science, aesthetic and service. The nominees are:
Bilbo Steyn
Stevo Kuhn
Percy Chikwira
Shaun Aupiais
Philisile Mdabe Ciro
Belinda Flynn
Coffee Personality of the Year
These coffee professionals approach whatever they do with optimism, effervescence and inspiration. They fly the flag of the coffee community high and get involved in all areas, remaining wonderful throughout. The nominees are:
Khulekani Mpala
Winston Thomas
Matt Carter
Bilbo Steyn
Chris Faragher
George Karatzas
Jonathan Robinson
Coffee Team of the Year
The Coffee Team of the Year award recognizes that it is people that make a coffee company great – From the Owners who create a happy, respectful and creative ethos, to the staff who live the brand daily. The successful team is one in which all the people in the space from the lowest to the highest uphold the same values and consistently serve with excellence and are rewarded well for doing so. The nominees are:
Sevenoaks Trading
Cape Coffee Beans
Infood Coffee Society
Craft Coffee
Mastertons Coffee
Bean There Coffee Company
Cafe of the Year
This award goes to the establishment that has consistently created an amazing cafe experience for its patrons, serves great coffee and food, with excellent service, has great ambience, design and most importantly, a loyal community of patrons. The nominees are:
Rosetta Silo District
Thirdspace
Father Coffee
Truth Coffee
Big Dog Cafe
Naked Melrose Arch
Roastery of the Year
The nominees in this category are the Roasteries in South Africa that have forged the path for speciality coffee in SA. They continue to push the boundaries of coffee roasting by sourcing the best coffees, investing in the latest technology, by collaborating, sharing and engaging with the global roasting community, by educating, informing and inspiring their customers – wholesale and retail and finally, by putting the highest quality coffee into the market that can make South Africa stand amongst the best coffee roasters in the world.
The nominees are:
Brothers Roastery
Quaffee
Rosetta Roastery
Father Coffee
Origin Coffee Roastery
Pause Coffee Roastery
Red Truck Coffee Roastery
Barista of the Year
Barista of the year is not limited to competitive coffee competitions but is the barista all-rounder. He/she is the barista who epitomizes what it means to understand, to respect and to serve amazing coffee experiences. They are masters of extraction, technique and technical understanding, but most of all they cherish that it’s not just about the coffee served, but in the serving. The nominees are:
Harry Mole - TriBeCa Coffee
Winston Thomas - Winston Douglas Consulting
Innocent Chakanyuka - Truth Coffee
Simnikiwe Mkhize - Roasetta Roastery
Chris Abrahams - Ciro Beverage Solutions
Rodney Swartz - Champs Musical
Jabu Thumbuni - Toast Food Co
