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Australians couldn’t have been prouder last year when Sydney café powerhouse, Toby’s Estate, was crowned the best coffee shop in the entire world. We all know our beans and brews are elite, and sometimes it just takes a global ranking – or a sobering flat white overseas – to remind us just how good we’ve got it. Now, the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list for 2026 has dropped – and while we no longer have the top spot, seven Australian cafés are still enjoying their moment in the global spotlight.
To the surprise of many Aussie coffee snobs, an American café, Onyx Coffee Lab, from Rogers, Arkansas – runner-up to Toby’s Estate in 2025 – has officially clinched the crown in 2026. This viral coffee mecca is the whole shebang – on top of a full production roastery and a state-of-the-art coffee bar, it houses a bakery, a taqueria and a mezcal bar, a 20-seat tasting restaurant and a high-end cocktail bar. Espresso Martini, anyone?
Now, America being named home of the world's best coffee shop might raise a few eyebrows – so let’s unpack how the winners were decided.
According to the competition’s website, rankings were determined by a combination of 350,000 public votes (accounting for 30 per cent) and scores from an expert panel of 800 judges (making up the remaining 70 per cent). The panel assesses more than 15,000 coffee shops on eight factors, including coffee quality, barista experience, customer service, innovation, ambience, sustainability practices, food offerings and consistency.
This year, seven Aussie cafés cracked the world’s top 100, with a Sydney newcomer emerging as our highest-ranked coffee shop. That honour goes to Only Coffee Project Crows Nest, which landed in an impressive fourth place globally.
The minimalist espresso bar was also crowned Oceania’s Best Coffee Shop 2026, celebrated for its purist approach to specialty coffee and rotating selection of beans from world-class roasters like Market Lane and Sey Coffee. Sydney locals praise the baristas’ meticulous attention to detail, impeccably sourced beans and the minimalist interiors that let the quality of your cup do all the talking. Fun fact: The 2026 winner, Onyx Coffee Lab, even features on their rotating pourover list – meaning you can potentially try the world’s best coffee in Australia’s best coffee shop.
The Only Coffee Project team told us, “It feels unreal to be ranked fourth [in the world] and named best in Oceania and Asia! It’s all because of our friendly and hardworking team members and lovely customers who support us every day! We still can’t believe it!”
If you’re keen to sample a world-class cuppa, Only Coffee Project has three cafés in Sydney: Crows Nest, Artarmon and North Sydney, plus one outpost in Melbourne Quarter.
Just behind, Sydney’s famous Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters slipped from first to fifth this year – but that’s still an incredible position in the global coffee league. We swear this place has had a line out the door ever since its big win in 2025. Locals clearly can’t get enough of its monthly rotation of unique single origins, limited-edition Flavour Savour blends and extensive frozen menu.
Two new Sydney cafés, both from Surry Hills, earned spots on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list in 2026, including Beta Coffee in an impressive 13th place and Single O in 53rd. They were joined by Melbourne’s Proud Mary Coffee, which slipped from fourth place in 2025 to 27th this year, and Brisbane’s Coffee Anthology, which moved from eighth to 29th. Rounding out the list was Melbourne's Vacation Coffee, which narrowly cracked the global ranking in 100th place.
The 10 best coffee shops in the world for 2026
- Onyx Coffee Lab, USA
- Tim Wendelboe, Norway
- Alquimia Coffee, El Salvador
- Only Coffee Project Crows Nest, Australia
- Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters, Australia
- Apartment Coffee, Singapore
- Gota Coffee Experts, Austria
- Story of Ono, Malaysia
- Tropicalia Coffee, Colombia
- Tanat, France