Our own distinction for specialty coffee, from one to three beans. Every bean is earned.
Applications open
2026 edition: you can submit your coffee shop until September 30, 2026.
27 days left
Submit my coffee shopInternational benchmark
Excellence proven across all six categories, with no weak area. Deliberately rare: beyond the highest score, it requires meeting additional qualitative criteria.
Regional benchmark
All of the above with exceptional execution and a recognisable identity. The team is trained, processes are reviewed, and the experience is considered from start to finish.
Excellent specialty coffee shop
Holds its quality visit after visit. Recipes are documented, the coffee programme follows a clear rationale, and what is served is explained plainly.
Six dimensions of how a coffee shop operates, held to the same standard worldwide. We do not measure the evaluator's taste: we measure systems, processes and execution.
The intent behind the coffee programme. We do not reward how many coffees you serve, but why they are there.
The systems that make every cup come out the same, whoever makes it. We do not evaluate the machine.
How quality is measured and protected every day, rather than assumed.
How knowledge is created, documented and shared across the team.
How clearly a customer understands what they are drinking.
How consistently the philosophy reaches the table. We do not evaluate luxury: we evaluate intent.
Each category carries a defined weight in the evaluation. The scoring method itself stays internal, so that nobody can optimise their answers instead of their coffee shop.
Any coffee shop can put itself forward. Our team of specialists also evaluates coffee shops on its own initiative, with no application involved.
With your email or with Google. It is the same account as the business portal.
If it is already in the guide, claim it. If not, add it by pasting its Google Maps link.
By SMS, through your email domain, or with a manual review.
26 questions about how you operate, and the evidence behind them. You can save and continue another day.
We check the answers and the evidence. If something is missing, we ask you for it.
It is published with the official list of the year. If you do not reach any beans, nothing is published.
It does not need to look polished: it needs to be real. Photos of what you already use are fine.
This November, at My Coffee Awards Barcelona.
No commercial relationship, sponsorship or subscription influences the outcome. No business can buy, sponsor or negotiate its recognition.
Recognition reflects our evaluation at a point in time under the methodology then in force. It is not a certification, a legal accreditation or a health inspection.