787 Coffee ranks among North America's best, boosts Puerto Rican provenance

787 Coffee is turning a fresh ranking into a louder argument for Puerto Rican coffee itself. The company said it finished No. 32 among more than 4,600 coffee shops across North America, Central America and the Caribbean in The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops program, while also landing No. 1 in Puerto Rico and No. 1 in New Jersey.

The timing sharpened the message. The ranking was announced at World of Coffee San Diego 2026, and 787 Coffee has been leaning hard into what the badge says about its farm-to-cup model. Its own materials say the program used more than 200 professional judges and more than 200,000 public votes, and that it was developed by NEODRINKS in partnership with the Specialty Coffee Association. The company also said it placed No. 11 in the United States, plus No. 1 in El Paso, No. 3 in New York City, No. 3 in Mexico City and No. 2 in Houston.

That multi-market spread matters because 787 Coffee has spent years building a brand that is bigger than a shop count. The company says its core operation began at Hacienda Iluminada in Maricao, Puerto Rico, where it grows, processes and roasts coffee in the island’s high mountains. It says it planted 50,000 coffee trees there, saved 5,000 from an old plantation and now sources not only from its own farm but also from neighboring farms that meet its quality and sustainability standards.

The provenance angle is what gives the ranking its punch. Coffee has been grown in Puerto Rico since the 1700s, and the island was once among the world’s leading producers. Then Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017 and tore through the sector. One report said about 85% of Puerto Rico’s coffee plants were destroyed; another account put production at more than 2,000 metric tons of green coffee before the storm and just over 330 tons in 2017, an 84% drop. A USDA-linked overview later said coffee was one of the agricultural sectors hit hardest by the hurricanes.

787 Coffee’s pitch is that it is trying to rebuild value at the source, not just sell a cup with island branding on it. The company says every bag sold plants a coffee tree at Hacienda Iluminada, and that kind of claim lands differently when paired with a ranking and a visible supply chain. Its first coffee shop opened in New York City in 2019, and it now operates in Puerto Rico, New York, Texas and New Jersey, including Newark and Westfield. The ranking gives 787 Coffee a cleaner shorthand for quality, but the bigger story is how it keeps tying that quality back to Maricao.