Judged by the experts, Grounds For Good is awarded a Great Taste 1 Star in world’s most coveted food and drink awards.

Penarth-based, sustainable start-up, Grounds For Good has been named among the top food and drink producers globally this year, picking up a highly prized 1-star Great Taste award for its GFG Vodka and its Vegan Dark Chocolate Bar. 

New for this year and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Great Taste, the Guild of Fine Food offered 50 micro producers the chance to put one new product in front of its expert panel of Great Taste judges for free. The bursary was aimed at micro producers who have never entered Great Taste before or have a new product, which has never been entered before. The bursary panel, which consisted of Adrian Boswell, buyer at Selfridges, industry commentator and food entrepreneur Mallika Basu, and PR & marketing expert AJ Sharp, selected the 50 most eligible entries. The recipients of the bursary then participated in the same rigorous blind-tasting process as all 14,195 food and drink entries, with judges unaware of their bursary status.

With the news of a 1-star rating for its GFG Vodka, Grounds For Good becomes one of the first cohort of bursary applicants to win a Great Taste award and joins 20 other successful companies who participated in the scheme this year.

Christabel Cairns, operations and marketing director at the Guild of Fine Food comments: “We’re really proud to have launched the bursary scheme to celebrate 30 years of Great Taste discovering fantastic food and drink. There are some brilliant products that have more than held their own through the judging process. We’re looking forward to supporting our 21 bursary winners with further initiatives later this year and following their progress after their success.”

14,195 products were put through the competition’s rigorous blind judging process at the world’s most coveted food and drink awards. 4,088 products were awarded a Great Taste 1-star – ‘food and drink that delivers fantastic flavour’, 1,568 were awarded a Great Taste 2-star – ‘above and beyond delicious’, and 248 were awarded a Great Taste 3-star – ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’.

Described as “What a clever idea! There are definite coffee grounds in the aroma. Warming grain aroma with a suggestion of mocha”, this GFG Vodka was a big hit with the Great Taste judges.

Made by re-distillation and vapour infusion of repurposed coffee grounds the GFG Vodka was one of 5,904 products to receive a Great Taste award in 2023 (which is only 41.6% of the total products entered). 

Dr Rosie Oretti from Grounds For Good comments: “We are thrilled to have won a Great Taste award for both our GFG Vodka and Vegan Dark Chocolate Bar. We have dreamt of this moment and are so proud to be adding the prestigious black and gold Great Taste badge of honour to both of these products. We started this journey during Covid lockdown with no more than an idea for reusing waste coffee grounds, so to be where we are today is truly a dream come true.

“Being recognised with a Great Taste 1-star means so much to independent producers such as myself, as it makes all the hard work and determination worth it! Great Taste is the most recognised accolade for taste and quality in the food and drink industry, so it’s a huge moment for us! Dr Rosie Oretti concludes.

What is Great Taste?

Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else. All products in the line-up for judging are blind tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.

This year, judging took place over 89 days in Dorset and London, with a panel of more than 500 judges putting the products to the test. The line-up saw food and drink products submitted from an extraordinary 109 different countries across the world. 

The GFG Vodka is available from our website and various retail outlets. RRP: £39.00. 70cl size 

For more information about Grounds For Good, visit www.groundsforgood.co.uk. 

The full list of this year’s winners and where to buy them can be found at www.greattasteawards.co.uk and a wide range of the award-winning products are available to buy in delis, farm shops and independent retailers across the country.