Woods Specialty Roastery, based in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, was named the best roaster in the Middle East and North Africa at the 2026 Global Coffee Awards MENA Edition, held June 15, beating competitors from across the region in a blind evaluation of their commercial coffee range.
The Coffee
Woods operates a café and roastery in Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, sourcing and roasting specialty single-origins for both their café menus and their online store. Their 2026 MENA competition entries spanned filter and espresso categories. The specific coffees evaluated have not been individually detailed in the competition results, which score a roastery across its full commercial range rather than a single lot.
That scoring format is what distinguishes the Global Coffee Awards from most roasting competitions. Unlike events such as the World Coffee Roasting Championship, where all competitors roast from the same standardized green lot on the same equipment, the GCA evaluates each roastery’s own commercially available coffees, the same bags a customer can order today. Judges score blind across multiple brewing categories, including Filter, Espresso, Flat White, and Specialty Drip Bag, rewarding consistency and quality across a roaster’s full range.
Where to Buy
Woods sells coffee through their website and ships within Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf.
The Win
The Global Coffee Awards is an independent world roasting championship organized by Perfect Daily Grind and Coffee Intelligence. Regional editions run throughout the year, covering MENA, Africa, Europe, and coffee-producing countries, with all Gold, Silver, and Bronze category winners advancing to the annual World Championship. Across recent editions, more than 2,000 samples from roasters in over 125 countries have been submitted worldwide.
The MENA edition on June 15 drew roasters from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and across the region. Saudi roasters dominated the top results: alongside Woods taking the overall title, Saudi specialty roastery Brew 92 had the single highest-scoring coffee in the competition, a Guatemala Geisha submitted in the Filter Single Origin Experimental category. Oasis Coffee Trading Company (Saudi Arabia) and CMI Roastery (UAE) also took gold. Woods’ overall win reflects strong performance across multiple categories, not a single standout entry.