Winners of the Inaugural Kenneth Davids Cup

Coffee competitions are good at producing winners. And like many Coffee Review reports, they can offer a snapshot of where coffee is now — what producers are growing, how they are processing it, what roasters value, and what kinds of pleasure drinkers will find in the cup.

The inaugural Kenneth Davids Cup was conceived with that broader purpose in mind. Named for Coffee Review co-founder Kenneth Davids, whose palate and sensory methodology have helped generations of consumers understand fine coffee, this new global awards program — which we now refer to as the “KDC” — recognizes both the roasters who bring coffees to their fullest expression and the farmers who make the range of those expressions possible.

The turnout exceeded our expectations. Coffee Review received samples from roasters in 35 U.S. states and 14 countries, representing 34 coffee-producing origins. Each roaster could enter only one coffee in each category, a rule that encouraged companies to submit coffees they regarded as singularly compelling rather than simply flooding the field. All entries were evaluated blind in the Coffee Review lab by two to four cuppers.

Before the 18 medalists emerged, more than 100 entries earned finalist recognition across the six divisions — a deep field that deserves celebration in its own right. The finalists ranged from established specialty-coffee leaders to smaller and less widely known roasters, with particularly strong participation from across the United States and Taiwan, as well as Australia, Guatemala, Japan, Panama, Singapore and Thailand. These coffees spanned familiar origins and varieties, emerging coffee-growing regions and just about every conceivable approach to processing. The finalist list documents the depth and breadth of contemporary specialty coffee and the level of accomplishment required to be in contention.

The competition was divided into Traditional Washed, Traditional Natural and Experimental, categories, each with separate divisions for United States and International roasters. The structure was deliberate. At a time when processing language can be confusing — and when highly manipulated coffees sometimes compete directly with more traditionally processed ones — Kenneth Davids Cup created room for innovation without asking classic coffees to compete on innovation’s terms.

The results were strikingly balanced. The six gold-winning coffees scored between 97 and 98 points, and all 18 medalists scored 95 or higher. Yet their sensory profiles ranged from the transparent, high-toned structure of classic washed Kenyas to the extravagant fruit and florals of natural Geishas and the vivid, sometimes esoteric character of carefully executed experimental lots. Excellence, the inaugural KDC suggests, is about coherence, distinction and pleasure achieved by many possible routes.

All of the winning coffees are described below. If you prefer to jump straight to the results, you can view reviews of the 18 winning coffees here.

Traditional Washed: Clarity Still Compels

The two Traditional Washed divisions offered irrefutable evidence that classic processing still anchors our universal experience of coffee. These coffees were conventionally depulped, fermented with ambient microorganisms in open tanks, fully washed and dried by established methods. Anaerobic, inoculated and intentionally flavor-modifying fermentations were excluded.

The United States gold medal went to Hula Daddy Kona Coffee’s 98-point Laura’s Reserve SL34, grown in Hawai‘i and priced at $99.95 for eight ounces. Exceptionally rich and deeply sweet, it layered black cherry, dark chocolate, gardenia, maple syrup and cedar in a sumptuous, syrupy-smooth cup. It is a reminder that traditional washed processing need not mean restrained impact. When exceptional green coffee, meticulous farming and accomplished roasting align, clarity can be lavish.

Andres Muñoz of Finca Progreso, producer of Barrington’s Progreso Pink. Photo: Barrington Coffee Roasting Co.

Barrington Coffee Roasting Co.’s 96-point Progreso Pink earned silver with a more buoyant profile of raspberry, cocoa nib, pink grapefruit, honeysuckle and almond. At $28.95 per 12 ounces, it also stood out as a comparatively affordable medalist. Little While’s 96-point Kenya Karatu AA took bronze, delivering the savory-sweet intensity that keeps classic Kenya central to specialty coffee: black currant, pomelo, cocoa nib, tomato blossom and freesia, animated by bright acidity and a plush, syrupy mouthfeel.

Heather Brisson, roaster at Little While in San Diego. Photo: Little While.

Kenya was even more prominent among winners of the Traditional Washed category, International division. Taiwan-based Kakalove Café earned gold with its 97-point Kenya Washed Nyeri Hill Factory AA Top, an intensely aromatic cup driven by black currant, blood orange, cocoa nib, wisteria and cedar. Lin Jen Wei’s Black Jar Coffee, also of Taiwan, took silver with the delicately intricate 95-point Honduras Finca Santa Lucia Geisha, while Australia’s Campos Coffee earned bronze for the 95-point Kenya Thirikwa Gakuyuini, a sweetly tart, balanced cup redolent with notes of red currant, pink grapefruit zest, cocoa nib, lilac and oak forest.

Turning coffee on raised beds at Nyeri Hill Estate, producers of Kakalove Cafe’s medal-winning Kenya.

Taken together, the Traditional Washed medalists make a persuasive case for legibility in coffee. Their processing allows variety and origin to speak clearly: SL34’s depth in Hawai‘i; Kenya’s currant-toned, citrus-bright authority; Geisha’s complex-citrus and floral delicacy. None needed overt fermentation character to command attention.

Traditional Naturals: Fruit With Definition

Coffees in the Traditional Natural category were dried in the whole fruit without sealed fermentation, added cultures, co-fermentation ingredients or partial depulping. The best entries demonstrate why this ancient method remains creatively vital: It can deepen sweetness and fruit character while preserving structure and aromatic precision.

Paradise Roasters won United States gold with a 97-point Panama Natural Mokkita Mama Cata Estate. At $150 per four ounces, it is the competition’s most expensive medalist, but its profile is correspondingly rare: passionfruit, white peach, gardenia, bergamot and dark honey, with crystalline acidity and a nectar-like mouthfeel. Blendin Coffee Club’s 97-point Ethiopia Alo Morke Natural earned silver with a very different expression of exuberance — wild blueberry, ripe mango, honeysuckle, candied lemon and milk chocolate — at $26 per 10 ounces. Rusty’s Hawaiian completed the podium with its 96-point Ka‘ū Natural Typica, a full, velvety coffee that displays black cherry, pineapple, star jasmine, chocolate fudge and cashew butter notes.

In the International division, Taiwan’s Euphora Coffee took gold with one of the Cup’s two 98-point coffees: the Panama Elida Estate Geisha Loma Centro Natural. Soaringly floral and intensely fruit-driven, it combined jasmine, raspberry, lychee, pink grapefruit and vanilla bean in a nearly weightless composition. Kakalove Café earned the silver medal — the only roaster to medal twice —with a 97-point Natural Alishan Zhuqi Shizhuo Ming Yang Yuan SL34, a Taiwan-grown coffee with an unusual savory-sweet profile of mulberry, guava, narcissus, dark chocolate and fresh rosemary. Guatemala’s La Familia del Café took bronze with its 97-point Guatemala Natural, an opulent, exceptionally full-bodied cup of blackberry preserves, ripe plum, baking chocolate, magnolia and molasses — and priced at just $20 for 340 grams.

A long-range view of the Lamastus family’s Elida Estate, producers of Euphora’s medal-winning Panama Geisha. Photo: Euphora Coffee.

These winners also challenged the simplistic idea that natural coffees must taste generically “fruity.” Their fruit notes were specific, their structures distinct and their regional and varietal identities transparent and accessible. In other words, the traditional natural process amplified the inherent character of the green coffee; it did not replace it.

Experimental Coffees: Innovation With Discipline

The Experimental category accommodated coffees outside the two traditional definitions, including anaerobic and inoculated fermentations, honey processes and coferments. Cofermented coffees — in which natural ingredients are added during fermentation — were eligible; coffees infused after drying or flavored after roasting were not.

This distinction is important because experimental processing is capable of astonishing aromatic intensity, but intensity alone does not create a great cup. The medalists succeeded because their novelty was integrated: Acidity, sweetness, mouthfeel and aroma worked together rather than competing for attention.

JBC Coffee Roasters won United States gold with a 97-point Wilton Benitez Pink Bourbon from Colombia. Its elaborate processing began with ozone and ultraviolet-light sterilization of selectively harvested cherries, followed by thermal shock. The coffee was then pulped, fermented for 36 hours in an anaerobic bioreactor with selected yeast strains, washed and dried using a carefully calibrated drying curve. Explosively aromatic yet composed, it brought together notes of strawberry guava, blood orange, rose, vanilla bean and dark chocolate. Red Rooster Coffee Roaster’s 96-point Peru Highland Select Extended Fermentation Natural earned silver. Produced from a blend of Caturra, Catimor, Catuai, Obata and Tupi varieties of Arabica, the whole cherries underwent an extended fermentation and were slowly dried in the fruit, intensifying their ripe-fruit and ferment tones. The cup offers notes of blackberry, red plum, passionfruit, baking chocolate and lavender. Magnolia Coffee took bronze with a 96-point Costa Rica Las Lajas Double Diamond, a proprietary process in which fully ripe cherries undergo two successive rounds of fermentation in sealed, oxygen-free tanks before being slowly dried on raised beds. The result is a richly aromatic coffee centered on tamarind, black cherry, orange blossom, caramel and baking chocolate.

A bag of JBC Coffee Roasters’ Wilton Benitez Pink Bourbon, fresh off the production line. Photo: JBC Coffee Roasters.

All three international Experimental medalists scored 97. Taiwan’s GK Coffee won gold with a Colombia Finca Río Negro Pink Bourbon Citric M1N2 Washed. Produced by Jhoan Rodríguez, the coffee was anaerobically fermented for 72 hours with mossto (the concentrated liquid extracted from coffee fruit mucilage) before being washed, yielding a dazzlingly aromatic, citrus-driven cup with mandarin, pink grapefruit, raspberry yogurt, lemon verbena and sugarcane tones. Nine Point Coffee, also of Taiwan, took silver with the Taiwan Taitung Namida Valley Double-Anaerobic. This estate-grown coffee underwent two successive oxygen-restricted fermentation stages, producing an immensely rich cup evoking Concord grape, ripe nectarine, hibiscus, molasses and roasted hazelnut. Japan’s SOT Coffee Roaster earned bronze with a Los Nogales Red Fruit Passion Washed, a Colombia Tabi subjected to a hot-and-cold thermal shock before pulping, followed by a 120-hour fermentation with mossto, then sun-dried for 15 days. The intricate process produced a brilliant, high-toned composition with notes of red currant, pomegranate, Meyer lemon, jasmine and wildflower honey.

Lynn Chiu, owner of Nine Point Coffee in Zhongli, Taiwan, whose Taiwan-grown anaerobic earned a medal in the Experimental category. Photo: Nine Point Coffee.

The best experimental coffees did not beat you over the head with their processing methods. They translated process into vivid, coherent and memorable cup character.

A Truly International Podium

Several larger patterns emerged across the 18 medalists. Taiwan roasters were a formidable presence, winning six medals across the international divisions, including golds for Kakalove Café, Euphora Coffee and GK Coffee. Their success was not confined to one approach: They excelled with a classic washed Kenya, a traditional natural Panama Geisha, Taiwan-grown natural and double-anaerobic coffees, and a technically ambitious Colombia Pink Bourbon.

Hawai‘i also had an exceptional showing. Hula Daddy and Rusty’s Hawaiian won medals with Hawai‘i-grown coffees, while Paradise Roasters, based in Hilo, earned gold with a Panama Mokkita. Two Taiwan-grown coffees reached the International division winners’ circle, further underscoring that high-quality coffee production continues to expand beyond the origins historically most familiar to global consumers.

No variety or origin dominated the blind results. Geisha appeared among the winners, including the extraordinary 98-point Euphora Panama, yet SL34, Pink Bourbon, Typica, Mokkita and other varieties also excelled. Panama and Colombia were prominent, but Kenya, Ethiopia, Hawai‘i, Taiwan, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Costa Rica all contributed medal-winning coffees.

Price varied nearly as dramatically as style. The medalists include rare lots sold in four-ounce packages at luxury prices, but also La Familia del Café’s 97-point Guatemala Natural at $20 per 340 grams and Blendin’s 97-point Ethiopia natural at $26 per 10 ounces. The Cup confirmed that scarcity and cost can be synonymous with extraordinary quality, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. (In this way, coffee is a lot like wine.)

What the First Kenneth Davids Cup Tells Us

Perhaps the most encouraging outcome of the inaugural Kenneth Davids Cup is the pluralism it revealed. Traditional washed coffees remain capable of profound sweetness, complexity and aromatic range. Traditional naturals can deliver lush fruit without sacrificing definition. Experimental processing can create genuinely new sensory experiences when technique serves the coffee rather than overwhelming it.

That pluralism feels appropriate for an award bearing Kenneth Davids’ name. His work has long approached coffee as both a sensory pleasure and a cultural object — something to evaluate carefully, describe precisely and understand in context. The Cup extends that spirit by celebrating not one doctrine of quality, but the many disciplined choices through which quality emerges: at the farm, during processing, in the roastery and, finally, in the cup.

The first year’s field was broad, ambitious and genuinely global. Its winners offer familiarity and surprise, elegance and intensity, impeccable tradition and purposeful innovation. Most of all, they give consumers 18 compelling reasons to remain curious about what coffee can be.

View Reviews of the 18 Winning Coffees