Good Cup · 9 November 2026
Good Cup rates each café on four levels, from Outstanding down to Entry Specialty. A level is a summary of evidence about the people, the coffee programme, the roasters and the equipment, not a position in a ranked list.
Outstanding: several exceptional strengths at once. Typically that means championship-level people, its own rare auction lots, a strong coffee programme, world-class roasters and serious gear, with more than one of them at the top. In our November 2026 data, 94 % of Outstanding cafés have a titled barista on the team and 86 % pour a Top or World-class roaster.
Excellent: a strong combination of proven strengths. Someone on the team who has competed, or a deep coffee programme with a top roaster, serious gear or rare lots. 42 % have a titled barista; 66 % pour a Top or World-class roaster; 72 % roast their own coffee.
Solid Specialty: strength across at least two areas, the gear, the coffee programme, the people or the beans. Most good neighbourhood specialty cafés sit here.
Entry Specialty: a supported specialty-coffee foundation. A trusted guide lists it, or one thing we found about its coffee is strong enough on its own. A café we list but have not rated yet shows «Not rated yet».
We show a café's level once we have finished reading every café in its city, which we call fully analysed. Several cafés can share a level, and we do not number them. A level moves when the evidence does: a new barista with results, a new roaster, a closed bar.