Good Food Awards name 15 winning coffees from 13 U.S. roasters

Ethiopia did more than appear on the 2026 Good Food Awards coffee list, it set the tone. The 15 winning coffees came from 13 U.S. roasters, and the field leaned so hard toward Ethiopian lots that the real story was not just who won, but what kind of cup blind tasters are rewarding right now. Two roasters, Crimson Coffee of Ohio and Magnolia Coffee of North Carolina, each landed multiple wins, a strong reminder that small specialty companies can still outmuscle bigger names when the coffee lands cleanly in the cup.

The winning list also stretched beyond Ethiopia, with standout coffees and blends from Colombia, Costa Rica and Rwanda. That mix matters because it shows the category is not just chasing one-country flavor fashion. The coffees that rose to the top were the ones with clear origin identity and enough character to hold up under the program’s blind judging, which is exactly where the specialty market is now: buyers are still rewarding traceable coffees with distinct profiles, but they are not limiting themselves to one origin story. The broader finalist field had already pointed in that direction, leaning heavily toward Ethiopia and Colombia while also including coffees from Panama, El Salvador and Rwanda.

The Good Food Awards coffee pipeline is built to expose that kind of shift. The program said it has run for 16 years and uses more than 250 judges each year in category-specific blind tastings. Coffee judging starts with at-home brewing by Bay Area evaluators and a public component before moving into professional cupping, which gives the category a rare mix of everyday brew reality and formal sensory scrutiny. For 2026, the foundation also updated coffee standards to distinguish between seasonal and year-round offerings, a move meant to encourage more market-ready entries.

The coffee finalists, announced January 29 after blind tasting on October 19-20, came from 25 coffees and 20 U.S. roasters across 12 states. California led with four roasters, while Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Oregon and Texas each had two. The finalists also highlighted the kinds of coffees specialty buyers are chasing now, with single-origin lots, Gesha, Pink Bourbon, Pacamara and SL-28 among the varieties, and thermal shock, carbonic maceration and anaerobic honey among the processes. The full Good Food Awards program recognized 242 products from 198 crafters across 18 categories from more than 1,200 entries, and the winners will be celebrated June 27 in New York City ahead of the June 28 Good Food Mercantile at the Javits Center River Pavilion, alongside the Summer Fancy Food Show. In a year when Ethiopian coffees dominated, the clearest signal is that flavor clarity, sourcing transparency and careful processing still win the room.