July 2026

Europe's 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026: Every UK Café That Made The Cut

There's a new list in town, and it's a big one. Europe's 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026 just had its inaugural edition, announced at a dedicated gala during World of Coffee Brussels (25–27 June 2026). More than 5,300 cafés across the continent were assessed by a panel of 250 industry professionals, backed by over 240,000 public votes. That's not a small poll dressed up as an award. It's a genuinely serious attempt to map where the best coffee in Europe actually is.

The judging criteria were quality, consistency, hospitality, and contribution to the wider coffee community. Which, refreshingly, means this isn't just “who pulls the prettiest shot.” It's who's actually good, again and again, and who's putting something back into the scene.

Here's who flew the flag for the UK.

Rosslyn: 12th in Europe, No. 1 in England

Image credit: Rosslyn Coffee

The big story here is Rosslyn, the independent coffee spot in the City of London (Square Mile, not the West End café strip you'd expect). It landed at 12th overall in Europe and top spot in England, one of only four UK cafés to crack the continental top 20. If you've ever queued outside on your way into the office, that queue apparently means something now.

Rosslyn's also a certified Living Wage employer, which is worth flagging given how much of the “best coffee shop” conversation usually stops at the cup. The ranking win means Rosslyn now qualifies for The World's 100 Best Coffee Shops, with that global list due in March 2027.

The Full UK Line-up

A few things stand out. Scotland punches well above its weight: two Isle of Skye cafés in the top 100 is not what most people would've guessed. And Saints of Mokha's placement is a nice one: it's built around Yemeni coffee heritage, exactly the kind of origin story that tends to get buried in a market obsessed with Ethiopian and Colombian single origins.

Ireland Had A Strong Showing Too

Worth a mention since it's right next door: nine Irish cafés made the cut, led by Coffeewerk + Press in Galway at an impressive 5th place overall. They've worked with over 80 roasters and run an independent art publishing house alongside the café, proof that “coffee shop” is doing a lot less work as a category than it used to.

Three Of These Are Already On Bean Here

Turns out we're ahead of the curve on this one. Three of the UK names on this list are roasters already listed on Bean Here, beans and all:

• Saints of Mokha (98th in Europe, Leicester). Their whole thing is Yemeni coffee, and it shows in the lineup: a Best of 2025 lot from Amal & Ishraq Al Ofairi, an anaerobic Chinese Catimor, and an orange co-ferment from Kenya's Sidney Kibet. Genuinely one of the more adventurous processing lists we've catalogued.
• Kapow Roasters (89th in Europe, Leeds). Light-roast, source-driven, with a washed Colombian (Mustafa) that also comes in a decaf version, which is rarer than it should be.
• Figment Coffee (85th in Europe, Aberdeenshire). Proof that Aberdeenshire is quietly doing interesting things, including a Peruvian Gesha and a Colombian mango co-ferment.

If you're browsing the directory, all three are searchable by roaster name, and their beans show up filtered by origin and process like everything else on the site.

Rosslyn, Moonstruck, Birch Coffee, Dark Pony, Lean to Coffee, and Oma Coffee Roaster aren't in the directory yet, mostly because a few of them are cafés first and roasters second, or roast in small enough batches that they don't have the kind of public bean catalogue we scrape. Worth keeping an eye on.

Why This Matters If You're Chasing UK Speciality Coffee

Awards like this are a genuine gift for anyone building content or search visibility around UK coffee: a real news hook, real search volume, real names people are actively googling right now. If you run one of the roasters above, or you're one of the ones not yet listed, get in touch. We'd like to add you.

The full list, including every European entry, is on the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops site.