Java rush roast a hit

It was the morning after the night before and Hayden Prujean was working his way through a monster coffee session.
But the Wellsford coffee roaster was not trying to work off a hangover from the previous night, despite having plenty of reasons to celebrate being named one of the country's top coffee roasters at last week's New Zealand Coffee Awards.
Instead, the owner of Wellsford's award-winning coffee roaster Rush Coffee stayed in Wellington for a workshop.
There he learned tips and sharing tastes with the directors of the International Cup of Excellence programme, which selects the best coffee in the world.
Rush Coffee was named the country's best brand of espresso coffee at the coffee awards and also earned a gold medal.
The company also won a silver medal as one of the best flat whites at the awards for the same blend.
Around 250 coffees from 63 of the country's coffee roasters competed in the awards and the nation's top brew was Altura Coffee's Eclipse Flat White Blend.
Mr Prujean said the following workshop included up to 30 of the country's top coffee roasters and he was delighted to be invited along to get even more knowledge about what makes a good coffee.
Despite the wins he was not going to rest on his laurels and conceded that "even when I'm 70, I'll still be learning about coffee".
The former operations director at Wellsford's Irwin Industries blade manufacturers spent a year working on his coffee roasts before starting to sell them commercially almost two years ago.
"While at Irwins, I wondered if this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I   heard on the radio about the plight of Columbian coffee farmers and thought it would be interesting to get into that," he said.
"I love coffee and thought it would be a fascinating future and it ticked all the boxes for me."
So, what is the secret to roasting a good coffee?
"To get a really good espresso you've got to get make a balanced coffee that has a nice sweetness and good mouth feel," he said.
Mr Prujean's winning espresso blend had beans from five different countries, although he was not going to reveal where they were from at this stage, to protect his blend.
"Ethics are fundamentally important to us," he said. "Our beans are sourced from predominantly Fair Trade suppliers - high-quality beans produced by growers who receive a fair price. We are also keen on promoting a pure product, certified organic where possible," he said.
 Mr Prujean said the best thing was the validation  the award gave his roasting.
"When you're working away in isolation it's great to have an independent group come up and say this is a really top quality product you are producing," he said. "That's the single biggest thing for me. There will be commercial opportunities for sure, but the accolades of my peers is the best. If nothing else happens, that would be enough for me."
Rush Coffee sells mainly around the Wellsford, Warkworth and Mangawhai areas and from now, the packs will be able to carry the accolade of a gold medal from the awards.
Matakana Coffee won a silver medal in the espresso section.