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Fairtrade Luxury Tea – 2 Gold Stars
Colombian Coffee – 2Gold Stars
Mocha Java – 2 Gold Stars
Vivaldi Espresso – 2 Gold Stars

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The Lisburn-based company’s  Java Coffee Beans product was particularly successful, receiving  the highly prestigious 3 Gold Stars accolade, the only Northern Ireland coffee product to do so.

The Great Taste Awards is the benchmark for fine food and drink in the UK and is seen as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world with food and drink being blind-tasted  by experts including chefs, buyers and food critics.

Only 120 out of the 8,807 products entered across all categories this year were awarded 3 gold-stars which judges describe as exceptional food or drink that has an indefinable ‘something extra’.

Robert Roberts’ Marketing Manager Sinead Adair is delighted with the brand’s success this year.

“In total we received ten awards ranging from 3 stars to 1 star at this year’s Great Taste Awards which is a fantastic achievement for Robert Roberts and a wonderful recognition of the outstanding quality that we strive for in all of our products,” said Sinead.

“We are delighted that our Java Beans was the only local coffee product to be awarded the highly sought after 3 gold-stars and we will now be putting this product through to the Gold Fork Awards which will be taking place this month and is where most of the Michelin Star Chefs select products for their restaurants over the coming year,” she added.

Robert Roberts’ Great Taste Awards 2012/13;

• 3 Gold Stars – Java Coffee Beans Foodservice
• 2 Gold Stars – Vivaldi Coffee Beans Foodservice
• 1 Gold Star – Colombian Coffee Retail
• 1 Gold Star – American Coffee Retail
• 1 Gold Star – Costa Rica Coffee Retail
• 1 Gold Star – Guatemala Coffee Retail
• 1 Gold Star – Havana Coffee Retail
• 1 Gold Star – Bistro Coffee Blend Foodservice
• 1 Gold Star -Diplomat Coffee Blend Foodservice
• 1 Gold Star – Luxury Leaf Tea/Campbells

Robert Roberts have been hand roasting coffee and blending tea in Ireland since 1905 and has remained a firm favourite with consumers for over 100 years.   For further information contact us at 02892 673316.

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Highly regarded as the Oscars of the Food and Beverage Industry, the accolades were announced yesterday afternoon, 7th August 2013, with only three Irish tea and coffee companies listed as being a ‘Great Taste Award’ winner in 2013.

405 judges completed 50 days of judging, which took place from May through to the last week in July and commenced, for the first time, with a week’s judging in Ireland.

Renowned for its quality tea and coffee products, this is the fifth consecutive year that Robert Roberts has been recognised by the Great Taste Awards, which are organised by the Guild of Fine Food.

Garath Scully, Master Coffee Roaster at Robert Roberts comments:

“In 2012, our Java Beans Coffee was awarded the highest-possible accolade, which was amazing achievement for the company and we are thrilled that Robert Roberts has been recognised yet again by the Guild of Fine Food.” 

On explaining what makes winning gold at the Great Taste Awards so special to Robert Roberts, Marketing Manager, Roisin O’Shea adds:

“The illustrious Great Taste Awards logo is a clear indicator of quality food and drink products. As the world’s largest blind-tasted food and drink accreditation scheme, gold stars are widely-recognised and are a trusted benchmark for shoppers and our foodservice customers.

“Being awarded ‘gold’ conveys ‘the best of’, not just in Ireland but on an international level, and we’re thrilled that four of our products will proudly display the Great Taste Awards logo in the year ahead.”

The Great Taste Awards received a record number of entries in 2013 with just under 10,000 products submitted by 2,016 businesses.

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Included in the winning products are four two-star gold accolades – which classes products as “faultless” – for Robert Roberts’ Colombia Coffee, Fairtrade Luxury Tea, Vivaldi Espresso and Mocha Java.

An additional nine products were also awarded a one-star gold – “close to perfect” – including Robert Roberts Rainforest Alliance organic tea, Robert Roberts Costa Rica coffee, and the company’s Decaf Black Tea.

Highly regarded as the Oscars of the Food and Beverage Industry, the Great Taste Awards are organised by the Guild of Fine Food.

The Brambatti roaster was named ‘Gaynor’ after one of the founding fathers of Robert Roberts, E. Gaynor Goodbody, and this is the Robert Roberts’ first submission to the awards since its significant investment in the roaster. The record haul of Great Taste golds is a huge vote of confidence in Robert Roberts and the capabilities of ‘Gaynor’.

This year’s Great Taste accolades bring the total number of golds that Robert Roberts has been awarded to 55 gold Great Taste awards, in just six years of entering. This includes a three-star gold – the highest possible accolade – for Robert Roberts’ Java Beans Coffee in 2012.

This year’s Great Taste Awards’ judging involved 400 judges tasting over 10,000 products across Ireland and the UK, over a 50-day judging period, in what is the world’s largest blind-tasted food and drink accreditation scheme.

Garath Scully, Master Coffee Roaster at Robert Roberts comments:

“In addition to lowering the company’s carbon emissions through more energy efficient technology, ‘Gaynor’ has enabled us to further refine our roasting. The roaster allows for even finer variations in the way we roast our coffee, taking advantage of the variation of the beans.

“This year’s 17 Great Taste golds are very special as they’re a stamp of excellence for our products. Our state-of-the-art technology, coupled with the old-fashioned tasting rituals that we use daily, are proving to be a winning combination.”

On explaining what makes winning gold at the Great Taste Awards so valuable to Robert Roberts, Brand Manager, Joanne Beattie adds:

“The Great Taste Awards are hugely influential in the food and drink industry and for shoppers, they are widely-recognised as an indicator of ‘the best of’ products.

“Our Roastery in Dublin 24 is the heart of our business and its vital that the superior quality and consistency of our coffees and teas is communicated to our retail and foodservice customers. The Great Taste Awards enables us to do this as its judging process is completely independent and very robust.”

Robert Roberts’ coffee is available in all major supermarkets and convenience stores. Its foodservice offering supplies many of Ireland’s premier cafes, restaurants, hotels and canteens across the country. It is one of the oldest tea and coffee businesses in Ireland with a history that goes back to the 1840s.

Two Star rating:
Colombian Coffee
Fairtrade Luxury Tea

One Star Rating:
Vivaldi Espresso
Mocha Java
McGraths Gold Tea
RR Costa Rica
Fairtrade Segovia
El Salvador & Brazil
Decaf Black Tea
McGraths Reserve Tea
Rainforest Alliance Organic Tea
Luxury Leaf Tea
Colombian Tres Rios

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Today, tea grows in tea gardens in many areas of the world. Tea plants are very picky about where they grow and the growing conditions have a huge influence on flavour. The plants need about 1,250mm of rain every year and a temperature of between 10 and 30 degrees centigrade. Some tea estates, in exposed places like Assam, have to plant other trees just to protect the tea plants from sun and strong winds. Tea plants need lots of care – needing pruning every four to five years to ensure they stay fresh and so that the ‘pluckers’ can reach the leaves.

Here in Ireland we take our Tea very seriously. In fact, we consume more tea per capita than any other country in the world. Tea was first introduced to Ireland in the early 1800s and back then it was classed as a luxury – confined to only upper class people of considerable wealth. Tea parties became a way in which wealthy people would socialise. However, it was not long before Tea became more popular and by the mid 1800’s every household in Ireland had a Tea Caddy.

The quality of tea we drink in Ireland is also the highest in the world. The difference between Irish & English tea can be explained, in part, by the Second World War​. Before that, most of our tea was purchased in the UK, but when the War started, the British government limited the amount of tea Irish merchants could buy to almost nothing. The Irish government, no doubt fearful of a mass revolt in the event of tea shortages, set up a private limited company, Tea Importers (Eire) Ltd., in order to start importing tea directly from country of origin. During the “Emergency” tea shipments continued albeit with some difficulty. As a result of these measures, the Irish tea trade continued to develop independently and developed different characteristics from those of the U.K. trade. At that stage most of our tea came from India. However after the war, the Kenya Tea Development Authority emerged and the factories that were built east of the Rift Valley began producing high quality African tea. It was found that this tea brewed particularly well in Irish water and Robert Roberts along with other Irish companies introduced it as a key blend component.

Today the range of teas Irish people drink is bigger than ever before – including teas like Chinese Green, Oolong, Pu’erh and herbal infusions like rooibos, peppermint & camomile.

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Is there a lot of caffeine in tea?

Is tea fattening?
Taken without milk, black tea is both calorie and fat-free. Hurrah! However, even with a splash of semi-skimmed milk, a cup of Robert Roberts tea still only has about 14 calories.

Can tea count towards my recommended amount of water per day?
Doctors recommend that we drink between 1.5 and 2.5 litres of water a day. Lots of liquids can make up this amount: juice, milk, and even tea. That’s good news for all our tea lovers.

What other benefits can I get from drinking tea?
Flavonoid antioxidants are naturally present in tea. Along with other antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin A and chlorophyll, flavonoid antioxidants can help to keep cells and tissues healthy. They do this by mopping up free radicals – atoms or molecules with unpaired electrons. Free radicals are made by all living organisms, but they’re also in things like pollution. While we all need free radicals, a build-up in our bodies can damage cells and DNA.

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