The World’s Best Coffee Shop of 2026 Is in the American South: Meet Onyx Coffee Lab

Onyx Coffee Lab, the Arkansas roastery‑café that has quietly built a cult following over the past decade, has just been named the best coffee shop in the world for 2026, topping the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list and beating out heavyweights from Oslo, San Salvador, and Sydney. The win is historic: it’s the first time an American café has ever taken the No. 1 spot, and it comes from a region few coffee obsessives would have predicted: the American South.

How a Southern Café Became the World’s Best

Onyx Coffee Lab, headquartered in Rogers, Arkansas, operates multiple locations across the state and has built its reputation on a meticulous, almost obsessive approach to coffee. The café handles full in‑house production roasting, runs a state‑of‑the‑art coffee bar, and even offers a barista training facility, elevating it far beyond a typical neighborhood shop.

The ranking is determined through a mix of public voting (30%) and expert evaluation (70%) from a panel of 800 industry professionals, drawn from more than 15,000 nominated cafés worldwide. That combination of broad fan support and expert validation helped push Onyx to the top.

What Makes Onyx Stand Out

Beyond its award‑winning coffee program, Onyx has evolved into a full culinary destination. Its flagship location includes:

• A tasting restaurant
• A bakery
• A cocktail bar
• A taqueria

This hybrid model blends third‑wave coffee culture with a broader hospitality experience, making it a standout even among global competitors.

The café placed second in 2025 before climbing to No. 1 this year, unseating Australia’s Toby’s Estate and surpassing iconic names like Tim Wendelboe. The U.S. also dominated the 2026 list overall, with nine American cafés making the top 100 — more than any other country.

The Full List of World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops

1. Onyx Coffee Lab — USA
2. Tim Wendelboe — Norway
3. Alquimia Coffee — El Salvador
4. Only Coffee Project Crows Nest — Australia
5. Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters — Australia
6. Apartment Coffee — Singapore
7. Gota Coffee Experts — Austria
8. Story of Ono — Malaysia
9. Tropicalia Coffee — Colombia
10. Tanat — France
11. FANKØR — Ecuador
12. Arcane Estate Coffee — USA
13. Beta Coffee — Australia
14. Nomadic Specialty Coffee — Egypt
15. Nemesis Coffee — Canada
16. Nomad Frutas Selectas — Spain
17. Kafi Wasi Café Tostaduría — Peru
18. Benchmark Coffee — UAE
19. Hola Coffee Lagasca — Spain
20. BlendIn Coffee Club — USA (Texas)
21. Holaste! Specialty Coffee — Chile
22. Momos Coffee Flagship Store — South Korea
23. Monotono Specialty Coffee — Peru
24. Ult Coffee — Japan
25. El Injerto — Guatemala
26. Three Monkeys Coffee — Peru
27. Proud Mary Coffee — Australia
28. Koffee Mameya Kakeru — Japan
29. Coffee Anthology — Australia
30. 7g Roaster — Portugal
31. Espresso Alchemy — China
32. Coffeewerk + Press — Ireland
33. Typica Café — Bolivia
34. Yardstick — Philippines
35. Histórico — Mexico
36. Coffee Sind — Taiwan
37. DeLafinca Specialty Coffee — Nicaragua
38. Ottoman Coffee House — United Kingdom
39. Casa Canela — Venezuela
40. Espresso LAB — South Africa
41. Seven Mystery — Canada
42. Faro — Italy
43. Domestique — USA
44. Harvest Coffee — Qatar
45. Origen Tostadores de Café — Peru
46. KEEP Coffee Roastery — Taiwan
47. Meet LAB Coffee — Turkey
48. Mulano Coffee Shop — Ecuador
49. La Cabra — Denmark
50. Birch Coffee — United Kingdom
51. Ruli Coffee — South Korea
52. Atte For Coffee — Guatemala
53. Single O — Australia
54. Rubia Coffee Roasters — Rwanda
55. Bob Coffee Lab — Romania
56. Unfiltered Coffee — Ireland
57. Tomorrow Coffee Roasters — Taiwan
58. Ca Passe Creme — Switzerland
59. Eco Mapu — Chile
60. 43.12 Coffee — Bulgaria
61. Fika & Co. Cafe — Thailand
62. Ditta Artigianale Specialty Coffee Roasters — Italy
63. Café Nativo — Honduras
64. Caferatto — Colombia
65. Kross Coffee Roasters — Greece
66. Prevail Coffee — USA
67. MOK Coffee — Belgium
68. Azura – The Coffee Company — Oman
69. Puku Puku — Peru
70. The Golden Pig — Honduras
71. Little Victories Coffee — Canada
72. Push x Pull — USA
73. Galani Coffee — Ethiopia
74. Wake Up — Chile
75. Bouche — Belgium
76. Café de Reyes — Guatemala
77. Savaya Coffee Market — USA
78. Coffee Stopover Black — Taiwan
79. Fuku — Netherlands
80. The Miners Coffee — Czech Republic
81. Cupping Café — Brazil
82. Coffea Guatemala — Guatemala
83. D·Origen Coffee Roasters Barcelona — Spain
84. Coffee Stain — Malaysia
85. The Dude Specialty Coffee — North Macedonia
86. Story and Soil Coffee — USA
87. Exploradores — Mexico
88. The Folks — Portugal
89. Casa Barista & Co., Casco Historico — Dominican Republic
90. Cypher Urban Roastery — UAE
91. Cafetano Coffee Roasters — Honduras
92. Coffee Five — Brazil
93. Kima Coffee — Spain
94. Negro — Argentina
95. Metric — USA (Illinois)
96. El Terrible Juan Café — Mexico
97. Flat White Specialty Coffee — Qatar
98. Cafeoteca — Costa Rica
99. Surry Hills Coffee — Argentina
100. Vacation Coffee — Australia