New 12 months, New Questions
Specialty espresso is evolving quick — quicker than development cycles, processing strategies, and high-concept café menus can sustain with. Every year, our tasting reviews are our means of pausing the noise and asking: What’s truly occurring within the cup? Not what’s promised, not what’s marketed — what’s there.
Roasted espresso beans. Courtesy of Sergey Kotenev.
All through 2026, we’ll discover areas and roast kinds, experimental fermentations, the mysterious world of decaf, the taboo of darkish roasts, and the shifting concept of worth in specialty espresso. These reviews will not be predictions; they’re fieldwork. We style blind, we examine impressions, and we let the coffees converse.
Right here’s what we plan to research this 12 months.
Pacific Northwest (February–March)
Coava Espresso Roasters in Portland, Oregon.Courtesy of Sean Benesh.
This report examines whether or not the Pacific Northwest — lengthy thought-about the non secular dwelling of U.S. specialty espresso — nonetheless has a definable regional identification within the cup. We’ll supply coffees from roasters in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and British Columbia, blind-taste them, and search for widespread threads. Will we nonetheless discover the deep, traditional profiles that formed early specialty tradition, or has the area splintered into divergent kinds marked by experimental processing, lighter roasting, and world sourcing influences? This report asks whether or not “Pacific Northwest espresso” remains to be a unified concept and whether or not the area remains to be main the pack in shaping espresso tradition.
Decaffeinated Coffees (April–Could)
Pour-over espresso. Courtesy of Sean Benesh.
Decaffeinated espresso is now not a compromise for many who can’t have/don’t need caffeine. For a lot of roasters, it has develop into an intentional providing that calls for high quality in each inexperienced choice and processing. This report evaluates the state of premium decaf because it stands in 2026, evaluating Swiss Water, CO₂, ethyl acetate, and different strategies throughout origins, profiles, and roast kinds. We’ll contemplate cup integrity, transparency round decaffeination, and general efficiency within the cup. The aim is to find out not whether or not decaf might be good, however how usually it truly rises to specialty requirements — and the place the innovation is occurring. We’d even style a number of grocery store decafs as factors of comparability.
Darker Roasted Coffees — At or Into Second Crack (June–July)
Darkish-roasted espresso beans. Courtesy of Tyke Jones.
Darkish roasts, as soon as dismissed by many in specialty circles, are quietly returning in additional intentional types that purpose for richness with out burnt aromas and flavors and construction with out bitterness. This report focuses on coffees taken to the edge of second crack or barely past, evaluating how properly they keep sweetness, steadiness, and varietal character at deeper roast ranges. We’ll examine whether or not darkish roasting can function a stylistic alternative that highlights sure coffees somewhat than masking flaws — and determine which roasters are elevating the class. And once more, there is likely to be some grocery store choices on the market that spotlight these distinctions compared.
Worth Coffees Underneath $19/12 oz. (August–September)
Neon espresso signal. Courtesy of Laura Filip.
As the price of dwelling rises, affordability has develop into a defining query for a lot of espresso drinkers. This report appears at coffees priced below $19 per 12-ounce bag and asks what “worth” really means immediately: Is it merely a low value, or is it respectable cup high quality relative to value? The aim isn’t to decrease the bar however to seek out roasters demonstrating that wonderful espresso doesn’t should be prohibitively costly, whereas nonetheless honoring a provide chain through which farmers can thrive — as a result of we all know we will discover coffees on-line at grocery store chains that don’t take part on this ethos, however that’s not what we’re involved in. We’ll spotlight what customers can moderately anticipate at this value level, the place it’s doable to offer worth within the context of sustainability.
Co-Fermented Coffees (October–November)
Experimental espresso and citrus co-fermentation in Costa Rica. Courtesy of Kim Westerman.
Co-fermentation — including fruits, botanicals, or different substrates throughout fermentation — is without doubt one of the most debated improvements in specialty espresso. Supporters see artistic risk and expressive taste; skeptics fear that it obscures terroir and drifts towards flavored-coffee territory. This report sidesteps the talk and asks an easier query: How do co-fermented coffees style? We’ll consider as large a spread as we will supply on cup high quality, steadiness, and sensory readability somewhat than novelty alone, and determine the place innovation enhances the cup and the place it overwhelms it. The end result ought to supply a clearer image of what co-fermentation is changing into, not simply what individuals concern or hope it is likely to be.
High 50 Coffees of 2026 (December)
Classic highway signal. Courtesy of Kim Westerman.
This end-of-year report highlights probably the most distinctive coffees we tasted in 2026, chosen from blind evaluations throughout all classes. Moderately than merely itemizing excessive scores, we’ll contextualize what made every espresso stand out — rarity, processing innovation, execution, or worth relative to expertise — and discover rising traits mirrored within the 12 months’s most compelling cups. The High 50 is each a celebration of excellence and a snapshot of what specialty espresso appeared like at its finest in 2026.
Trying Forward
This 12 months’s calendar displays a specialty espresso panorama in movement: regional identities being examined, pricing pressures redefining expectations, improvements reshaping fermentation, and long-dismissed classes (decaf, darkish roasts, worth blends) asking to be reconsidered on their very own phrases. Our purpose isn’t to endorse traits, however to separate sign from noise. 2026 will undoubtedly shock us. We stay up for discovering these surprises within the cup — and sharing what we be taught alongside the best way.
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