So, here it is, the final Coffee Spot Awards Shortlist for 2016, the only one that you, my readers, decide. It’s the “Most Popular Coffee Spot” Award, which is based on the total number of views received by each Coffee Spot in 2016.

This was won last year by Made by Knock: Hausgrind and Feldgrind with just over 1,000 views. This year we have six Coffee Spots which have broken the 1,000 views mark, which I’m quite excited about, although only one of them was published this year! In fact, last year’s winner, Made by Knock, would have won this year, with over 1,850 views, only I’m sticking with the rule I introduced last year and only allowing Coffee Spots published this year into the shortlist.

On that basis, of the 12 most viewed Coffee Spots, two from Glasgow, two are Saturday Supplements and there’s one each from Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Guildford, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Shrewsbury which is the widest geographical spread I’ve ever had for this Award.

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Welcome to this year’s penultimate Coffee Spot Awards Shortlist, the Brian’s Coffee Spot Special Award, won last year by Greenhood Coffee House. This is a special award for those Coffee Spots which don’t quite fit into the other categories, but which nonetheless I absolutely love… It’s also a chance for me to recognise and reward those wonderful Coffee Spots that I come across during the year and which mean something special to me.

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Welcome to the next Coffee Spot Awards Shortlist for 2016, the “Most Passionate About Coffee” Award, which was won in 2015 by Coffee Tasting Flight at Slate. For me, this is one of the most important awards, and also one of the hardest to judge, which is why I’ve left it to the last day.

It’s not just about the coffee, it’s also about people who love and care about coffee. Everyone who I’ve covered in the Coffee Spot is passionate about coffee and one of the great things is how much love there is out there, both for the coffee and for those who make it. However, those shortlisted for this award stand out from the crowd.

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We enter the final day of the 2016 Coffee Spot Awards shortlists with the “Best Breakfast” Award, which in 2015 went to Lemana Coffee & Kitchen. Along with cake, breakfast has a special place in my heart. The only slight snag is that I rarely get up and out of the house early enough to get to places before they stop serving breakfast, so they don’t feature on the Coffee Spot as often as I would like!

That said, I still managed to get up early enough to generate a healthy shortlist this year, helped by those wonderful places that serve all-day breakfasts! In fact, given how often I have things from the breakfast menu for lunch, I wonder if I should rename this award “”Best Brunch””…

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I present the final shortlist of the day, which is for another of my favourite Coffee Spot Awards, that of “Coffee Spot with the Happiest Staff”. Last year it was won by Beany Green, Regent’s Place. In my opinion, staff are probably the most over-looked part of any Coffee Spot. Good staff can make a place and bad staff, no matter how great the coffee and wonderful the location, can kill a place.

Everywhere that features in the Coffee Spot has great staff, but these were exceptional, with some infectiously happy staff. However, this award isn’t just for happy staff; it’s for any staff who go that extra mile to make their coffee shop a special place.

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Next up today, the 2016 Coffee Spot Award shortlist for “Best Physical Space”, which was won last year by Marmadukes Café Deli. One of the most important things for me is how a Coffee Spot looks and feels. This, to me, is just as important as the coffee.

This award celebrates those Coffee Spots in which there’s a pure joy in just sitting there, soaking it all in. It’s not just about physical beauty and elegance. Instead, it’s as much about atmosphere, layout and overall feel. It’s another where I could have made two or three different shortlists, all with worthy winners. However, I have managed to whittle it down to just a single list for this year’s Award.

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Next up in the 2016 Coffee Spot Awards with the shortlist for the “Best Overseas Coffee Spot”. This was won in 2015 by Coffee Tasting Flight at Slate and celebrates all those wonderful Coffee Spots that I’ve visited outside of the UK. I’d love to travel more, since I keep hearing about great coffee all over the world.

This year has been excellent for overseas Coffee Spots. I’ve had three trips to the USA, as well as heading for the first time (with my Coffee Spot hat on) to Portugal, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as returning to Dublin. If you want to read more of my travel exploits, check out Brian’s Travel Spot.

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First up today, the 2016 Coffee Spot Award shortlist for “Best Roaster/Retailer”, which was won last year by Ancoats Coffee Co, Royal Mills. Initially, this award was only open to retailers, but in 2014, I expanded it to include roasters, who now dominate the award. Contenders have either appeared in the Meet the Roaster series or they are cafe/roasters who I have visited during the year.

Although the Coffee Spot is mostly about places to have coffee, I still drink the majority of my coffee at home, so those wonderful people who provide me with my coffee beans need a mention. The problem, with all these awards, is knowing where to draw the line for the shortlist and this Award is no exception. I’ve visited lots of coffee shops/roasters this year, but I’ve made a decision, with two or three exceptions, to stick to either roasters I’ve written about as roasters or coffee shops where the beans are roasted on site.

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Welcome to the final 2016 Coffee Spot Awards shortlist of the day, the “Best Cake” Award, won in 2015 by Mr Wolfe. Despite what it says on the tag line, the Coffee Spot’s not all about the coffee. After all, what would a cup of coffee be without a decent slice of cake to go with it? So, cake plays a major part in the Coffee Spot and this Award celebrates the Coffee Spots which excel in the cake department.

This is another of my favourite Awards and while I didn’t visit that many dedicate cake spots, I was nonetheless treated to some absolutely fantastic cake along the way, proving that, like good coffee, the more you look, the more good cake you find.

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Coffee Spots come in all shapes and sizes, but for some reason I have a real soft spot for small Coffee Spots. Last year the “Smallest Coffee Spot” Award was won by Pavé Coffee.

This year I have once again been blessed by some very small Coffee Spots serving some very fine coffee. As in previous years, this Award is entirely subjective: no Coffee Spots were measured during the judging process! This is one of several Awards that I could have filled many times over: the world seems full of lots of really lovely, small, Coffee Spots. Please note that I have deliberately excluded Coffee Spots with no internal space/seating, although they do get a mention.

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