General News
7 November, 2025
Coffee Queen
THE race to claim the crown for the Ararat region’s best hot drink has been decided. Sarah Ramsay from Ararat’s Foragers Café last week took the inaugural Golden Mug title in a locally pitched competition where customers voted for their favourite hot beverage. The Greater Ararat Business Network launched the search for the regions best hot Beveridge in August with 16 local venues participating. The final result was tight, with Foragers claiming the title by one vote.
Hundreds of votes were cast by customers from across the Ararat region with Foragers winning 118 votes to Halls Gap based Kerri’s Kreations 117.
Across the region, 16 local businesses participated in the Grampians Golden Mug competition.
Sarah was announced the winner and presented with her trophy at last week’s East Grampians Business Awards at the Ararat Town Hall.
Greater Ararat Business Network committee member Lucy Black said Foragers was a very deserving winner.
“The competition was a vote by the public on the best hot brew in the region and we added up the votes and Sarah and Foragers won by one vote.
“It could be a vote for any hot brew, a coffee, a tea or a hot chocolate, but 80 per cent of votes were for coffee,” she said.
“It was a really tight competition but a very successful start and I hope this will continue into the future,” Lucy said.
Sarah said it was a huge honour to win the Golden Mug.
“It’s amazing. We didn’t expect it. Just getting to the top three was a thrill,” she said.
Sarah said her coffee is made by a group of talented baristas using good beans.
“We’ve got some amazing baristas here, and we are very precise with what we do, very consistent.
“We use Seven Seeds coffee from Melbourne. Before we opened we did a lot of research, we went down and did training. They use premium beans and they have very good ethics behind their buying and fair trading,” she said.
Lucy Black hopes the competition will return in 2026.
“I think it’s got legs, there was a lot of chatter in the community and it was a great show of support for our local businesses during a slow period,” she said.
Other than the prestige associated with the award, Foragers will also receive $4,000 of advertising with the Ararat Advocate and Ace Radio.
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