The first People’s Choice Coffee Awards has attracted votes from 42 countries in every continent in the world. So far. Voting is still open. I just thought now’s as good a time as any to tell you how it’s going.
The fact that it’s getting so much attention is great. But not the most interesting thing that’s happened.
The most interesting thing has the comments. When voting opened, I expected people to talk about coffee. I expected comments about espresso, roasting, brewing, consistency, sourcing, atmosphere and design. And those comments are certainly there.
What I didn’t expect was how often people would talk about entirely different things.
Why the People’s Choice Coffee Awards
The idea behind the People’s Choice Coffee Awards came from a simple question: Who gets to decide what makes a coffee business great?
The coffee industry has no shortage of awards. There are competitions for baristas, roasters, latte artists and coffee shops. There are judging panels, score sheets, technical standards and industry experts.
Those awards have an important role to play. They push the industry forward. But they’re designed to evaluate excellence through the lens of professional expertise. Judges.
The People’s Choice Coffee Awards was built to gather a different perspective: What do customers think?
Not what judges think. Not what industry insiders think. What do the people who spend their money in coffee shops every week actually value?
Customers don’t assess coffee businesses the way coffee professionals do. Most customers don’t know what grinder a café uses, couldn’t tell you how a coffee was processed and aren’t evaluating extraction percentages or competition credentials.
They’re assessing something far more human. They’re deciding whether they want to come back.
The voting became a map of modern coffee culture
One of the surprises of the awards has been the sheer geographic spread of participation. Votes have arrived from 42 countries from every continent in the world.
Some locations were predictable. Canada. The United States. The United Kingdom. Australia.
Others less expected. The Isle of Man. Bulgaria. Slovakia. Croatia. Cyprus. Even Guatemala.
Coffee media has a habit of focusing on the same places. London. Melbourne. Tokyo. Copenhagen. Singapore.
Those cities deserve their reputations. They’ve earned them. But they aren’t the whole story.
Strong coffee communities are developing in places that rarely receive international attention. A customer in Alberta can feel just as strongly about their local coffee shop as somebody in central London. A coffee drinker in Muscat can develop the same sense of loyalty as somebody in New York. A café in Sofia can become woven into the daily routines of its customers in exactly the same way as a café in Melbourne.
I think the voting suggests that specialty coffee is increasingly becoming a local story. Not a global trend. A local one.
The gap between how the industry thinks and how customers think
Coffee professionals spend enormous amounts of time discussing coffee. They care about sourcing, roasting, processing, extraction, brewing technique and equipment.
They should. Those things matter. Without them, specialty coffee wouldn’t exist.
Yet when customers were given an opportunity to celebrate their favourite coffee businesses, many of them talked about something else entirely.
People.
Some voters talked about staff remembering their names. Others talked about kindness. Several described a café as a second home. Many mentioned feeling welcome.
Nobody was describing dramatic experiences. They were describing small moments. A smile. A conversation. A familiar face. A sense of belonging.
The industry often treats coffee quality and hospitality as separate conversations. Customers don’t.
Customers experience everything at once. The coffee. The atmosphere. The service. The music. The people. The energy of the room.
All of it blends together into a single impression.
What customers seem to value more than coffee
Why were so many people talking about staff? The obvious answer is that people appreciate good service. I don’t think that’s the whole answer.
People weren’t describing transactions. They were describing relationships. There’s a difference.
Nobody remembers the barista who efficiently handed them a coffee six months ago. People remember the barista who asks how their child is doing. They remember the person who notices when they’ve been away. They remember the owner who sits down for a conversation when the café isn’t busy.
Most successful coffee shops don’t build communities through grand gestures. They build them through hundreds of ordinary interactions that accumulate over time.
Things you can’t quantify easily. But influence a customer’s experience profoundly.
People will make the effort
People don’t go out of their way to vote for businesses they feel indifferent about.
Voting requires effort. A customer has to stop what they’re doing and complete a form. They have to actively choose to support a business.
In fact, because I’m not very smart, I had set up the voting form to be much longer than it needed to be. And it had a few bugs (I’ve fixed it all now; the form is more concise and bug-free).
Still people voted. A lot of people voted.
Also, the “comments” field was not a compulsory one. You didn’t need to fill it in to complete the form. But a lot of people did. And left comments they clearly thought about.
That kind of loyalty is difficult to manufacture. It’s earned. Slowly. One interaction at a time.
The final week of voting
Voting for the inaugural People’s Choice Coffee Awards closes on Friday, 26 June 2026 at 23:59 CEST, the local time in Brussels. Where I will be to attend the World of Coffee.
The winner will be announced on Saturday, 27 June 2026 at 18:00 CEST.
There’s still time for the leaderboard to change. There’s still time for communities to rally behind their favourite coffee shops, roasteries, educators, technicians and online coffee experiences.
If you’ve not done so already, now is the time to rally your community to vote. To help you do that, I’ve created a media kit you can download here.
Post the media kit. Share the voting link. Tell your customers.
Many of the businesses currently leading the voting didn’t get there by accident. Their communities showed up. Yours will too. If you ask them.
Stay tuned to see who wins the inaugural People’s Choice Coffee Award.
FAQ
What is the People’s Choice Coffee Awards?
The People’s Choice Coffee Awards is a global coffee awards programme decided entirely by public vote. Unlike industry competitions judged by panels or technical criteria, the awards allow coffee drinkers to nominate and vote for the coffee shops, roasteries, baristas, educators, technicians and online coffee experiences they value most.
How many countries participated in the first People’s Choice Coffee Awards?
The inaugural People’s Choice Coffee Awards received votes from 42 countries and territories across every inhabited continent. Participation came from established specialty coffee markets as well as countries and regions that are less frequently discussed in international coffee media.
What did the voting reveal about coffee drinkers?
One of the clearest findings was that coffee drinkers often talked about people before they talked about coffee. While many voters praised coffee quality, they also repeatedly mentioned hospitality, familiarity, community, consistency and the relationships they had built with coffee businesses over time.
Why was the People’s Choice Coffee Awards created?
The awards were created to answer a simple question: what do customers think? The coffee industry already has respected competitions and judging panels, but relatively few awards are decided entirely by the people who visit coffee shops, buy coffee and support coffee businesses every day.
What countries participated in the People’s Choice Coffee Awards?
Votes were submitted from countries and territories including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Oman, Australia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Croatia, Guatemala, Cyprus, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Ethiopia, New Zealand and many others. The diversity of participation highlights how widely specialty coffee culture has spread around the world.
When does voting close for the People’s Choice Coffee Awards 2026?
Voting closes on Friday, 26 June 2026 at 23:59 CEST, the local time zone in Brussels. After voting closes, submissions will be reviewed and verified before the final results are announced.
When will the People’s Choice Coffee Awards winners be announced?
The winners of the inaugural People’s Choice Coffee Awards will be announced on Saturday, 27 June 2026 at 18:00 CEST during the final day of World of Coffee Brussels.
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