SP cafeteria is the only Brazilian among the 100 best in the world

Between two trees on Wisard Street, in the Vila Madalena neighborhood (West Region), in São Paulo, a awning announces a coffee shop that offers handcrafted breads, brunch and specialty coffees. Cupping Café, founded eight years ago at the address, was among the 100 best coffee shops in the list The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops, released last Monday (17) during an award in Madrid, Spain. This was the first edition of the event.

The São Paulo establishment was 92nd place, ahead of stores from Argentina, Germany, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Uganda and Peru.

“We were very happy, because we always focused a lot on the quality of our product and service, so it was very gratifying to receive this recognition,” says Gabriel Manassés Penteado, 42, barista and partner of the cafeteria.

The site works exclusively with Brazilian grains of single origin, that is, that are not mixed with coffees from other places – in these cases, the mixture is called Blend among experts.

“Nothing against it, but here we opted for single DNA grains and we vary the portfolio between cafes from different states, with varied profiles and different processing techniques, which also influences the taste,” comments Penteado, which operates in the market of special cafes For over a decade.

“Some coffee shops do this with coffees imported from different countries, and we have created a miniature of this system by working with cafes from different states. We want to show that Brazil has a great diversity in this sector,” he says.

Since Cupping Coffee Coffee Lots are always unique, the menu also changes periodically. In the current menu, the barista recommends the number 5, a fermented coffee with no yeasts used in champagne.

Since 2020, the coffee shop makes its own roasting and it is possible to purchase specialty coffees at the physical store and in the store online of the establishment.

The list

The first place on The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list was with an Australian unit of a coffee shop that was born in the United States, a country that has 14 among the 100 best establishments.

In South America there are 16 places indicated on the list between Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. The full list can be accessed on the official website.

To reach the 100 considered the best in the world, more than 4,000 coffee shops were evaluated. Indications can be made by coffee experts or the general public through a form on the site.

The ranking is determined by a specialized jury voting system with popular opinion, based on personal experience. There were over 65,000 client votes for this edition of the list. To reach a final note, the expert’s vote is weight of 70%. The remaining 30% are from the public.

More than 200 experts accredited by SCA (Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and CQI (Coffee Quality Institute), non -profit international organizations, evaluated coffee shops over a year.

The evaluation criteria are coffee quality, the experience of baristas, customer service, innovation, environment offered by the establishment, sustainability practices and quality of the salty candy menu.

“I hope this nomination will be an incentive for more professionals and more cafeteria to worry about the whole work, not only with coffee, but with complete experience: good service, quality coffee and technical knowledge,” says Penteado. “The market has evolved a lot in Brazil and can get better and better.”