Cafe Kreyol, Lucky’s Coffee, All Day Roasting Company, and oma coffee roaster took the Filter and Espresso titles across the 2026 Global Coffee Awards’ US & Canada and Asia regional editions. EspressoDrop tracks the Filter and Espresso categories specifically, since they’re the closest thing the GCA has to a standardized head-to-head brew comparison; the competition’s other categories (Flat White, Ready to Drink, Specialty Drip Bag) and its overall roaster title are judged on different criteria and aren’t covered here.
The Coffees & Where to Buy
US & Canada — Filter: Cafe Kreyol
Based in Manassas, Virginia, Cafe Kreyol is a direct-trade roaster built around Haitian Blue, a varietal shared with Jamaican Blue Mountain and grown high in Haiti’s mountains; the company works directly with farming families there and sources through the same direct-trade model in other origins including the Dominican Republic and Ethiopia. Cafe Kreyol was named Roast Magazine’s 2023 Macro Roaster of the Year and has won multiple Golden Bean medals. The judging took place during double-blind evaluation in Houston, Texas on August 10 and 11.
Cafe Kreyol roasts in-house and sells online, with subscription and wholesale options.
US & Canada — Espresso: Lucky’s Coffee
Lucky’s Coffee opened in downtown Upland, California in June 2019, founded by Tyler Smith, who previously worked in marketing and e-commerce for equipment maker Wilbur Curtis and the Specialty Coffee Association. The roastery has since added a second location and roastery in nearby Claremont. Lucky’s sources and roasts its own coffee for its cafes and online shop.
Asia — Filter: All Day Roasting Company
All Day Roasting Company has roasted and served specialty coffee from Taipei’s Songshan District since 2014, built on meticulous sourcing and precision small-batch roasting. The Asia regional judging was held at Balzac Brothers in Dubai on June 17.
All Day Roasting Company sells roasted whole-bean coffee and drip bags through their web shop, with international currency options.
Asia — Espresso: oma coffee roaster
oma coffee roaster is a small-batch specialty roaster based in Hong Kong’s Tai Hang neighborhood, with a second café location in London. The roastery sells single-origin espresso and filter coffee through its own shop.
oma’s online shop ships domestically within Hong Kong; international shipping wasn’t confirmed as of this writing.
The Win
The Global Coffee Awards is an independent world roasting championship organized by Perfect Daily Grind and Coffee Intelligence. Unlike roasting competitions where competitors are handed standardized green coffee lots to roast on site, the GCA judges evaluate each roaster’s own commercially available lineup, the actual coffees roasted and sold to consumers every day, scored double-blind by international panels.
Regional Gold, Silver, and Bronze category winners from the US & Canada, Asia, MENA, Africa, Europe, and Latin America circuits qualify for the annual Global Coffee Awards World Championship, held at the Producer & Roaster Forum (PRF). This year’s regional winners advance to the 2027 World Championship at PRF 2027; the 2026 World Championship, held in March 2026 in San Salvador, was decided by the prior year’s regional editions.
For more on the Global Coffee Awards and past Filter and Espresso champions, visit our Global Coffee Awards page.