Roaster happy with the daily grind

Matalin Hatchard, who runs Ovenbird Coffee in Whangarei with his wife Renee. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Two Northland coffee roasters are hoping their blends will be smooth enough to impress judges tonight at the New Zealand Coffee Awards in Auckland.

Whangarei coffee company Ovenbird and Kerikeri roasters Max Coffee are vying to win the coveted Supreme Award at the Huhtamaki New Zealand Coffee Awards, as well as a number of coffee blend categories.

Matalin Hatchard has operated Whangarei coffee company Ovenbird with his wife Renee for the last 19 months.

This is the first time they have entered the competition.

"We have a coffee entered in the Best Flat White Blend and Best New Zealand Espresso. It's our first year and, yeah, like all coffee roasters, we think our coffee is the best," he said.

Ovenbird also trained customers to make the best coffee, roasted to produce a drink with body that "hit the sweet spot", he said.

Ovenbird had been operating for the last 10 months from a pop-up business at an incubator collective site on Woods Rd in Whangarei.

In Kerikeri, the Max Coffee crew are "quietly confident", according to Beverley Naylor, who bought the company in 2011 with her son Aaron Bingham and his partner Raelene Rankin.

Max, which first kicked off in 1999, won silver in 2013/2014 at the NZ Coffee Awards for its Best Organic Blend and bronze in 2013/2014 for the Best Supermarket Espresso.

Master roaster Reuben Greig had worked for the previous owner and still works with Max Coffee.

The company has entered seven of the eight categories.

They entered their Max Special Blend in the Best New Zealand Espresso and Best Flat White Blend categories.

Their Max Organic was entered in the Best Ethically Traded Coffee and Best Organic Blend rounds.

They hope their Max Morning Blend will impress judges in the Best Supermarket plunger and Max Exotic Blend in the Best Supermarket Espresso. Ms Naylor said Max Coffee's Max Yirgacheffe was this year's golden product, and was entered in the Best Single Origin.

"We have some nice roasts and coffee in there," Ms Naylor said.

Yirgacheffe was an Ethiopian coffee which had proved a vital ingredient in their daily/exotic blend - a consistent winner, she said.

The winners will be announced tonight at an event at Bell Tea & Coffee in East Tamaki, Auckland, with a panel of 14 judges checking out around 300 entries of freshly roasted coffees from about 80 of the country's roasters.