Downtown Aurora’s Endiro Coffee Wins Prestigious National Honor

Downtown Aurora is blessed with not one, but TWO world-class cafes where you can grab a latte and chill. One of the 102 winners nationwide was our very own Endiro Coffee!

The sofi’s are the awards given out by the Specialty Food Association:

The Specialty Food Association’s sofi™ Awards have been honoring the best in specialty food for 50 years. sofi™ Award honorees are selected through a blind tasting process and are true innovators in their categories. The sofi Award brings with it exposure to food buyers from top names in supermarkets, specialty retailers, foodservice, distributors, as well as the press. Winning a sofi Award isn’t just another trophy for your bookshelf – it’s a doorway to invaluable business opportunities and global recognition.

In each category, like alcoholic beverages, baked goods, meat and pultry, etc, Endiro won the sofi for best new product in the Coffee and Hot Cocoa (not ready to drink) for it’s bagged coffee Uganda Bududa Bukalasi 100% Washed Arabia Coffee.

And really, that’s what it’s all about for Endiro! Their mission is beyond just coffee. It’s about people, as explained on their website:

At Endiro Coffee our vision is to be a company that partners with others to end child vulnerability globally through coffee and its people, related products, profits, services, spaces and stories. So we are really all about coming together with God, with one another and with you to make the world a better place. We believe in the power of hospitality, sharing, conversation, prayer, collaboration, partnership, community, and family. This is where we find the power to brew a better cup of coffee, to operate a better business, and to discover better solutions to local and global problems.  In short, Endiro is about coming together to brew all the good we can.

The coffee is described as fully washed arabica coffee grown by the Endiro Growers Bukalasi Women’s Group in the village of Bukalasi in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda. This coffee is grown at an altitude ranging from 5,850 – 6,100 feet.

What’s notable about this, too, is the fact a Ugandan coffee has never won this award before!

Products are judged on taste, including flavor, appearance, texture and aroma, ingredient quality and innovation, according to a news release announcing the award. All tastings are anonymous and are held at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center.

Congrats to the folks doing God’s work down at Endiro. Grab a cup the next time you are in downtown Aurora!

While you are here, check out all the other sofi wniners here.