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, Paddington and once again this year’s shortlist is particular strong. I was blessed as I visited numerous places with some very happy staff this year.

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.

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Next up today, the 2015 Coffee Spot Award shortlist for “Best Physical Space”, which was won last year by Pot Kettle Black. 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 Award 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 2015 Coffee Spot Awards with the shortlist for the “Best Overseas Coffee Spot”. This was won in 2014 by 3FE 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 I’ve not around as much as I would have liked, only managing a couple of trips to the USA. However, what trips they were: in March, New York, Philadelphia & Washington DC; in June, Boston, Providence, Portland (Maine), Chicago, Portland (Oregon) and Seattle. I also published some spots at the start of the year from a trip to Paris in 2014.

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First up today, the 2015 Coffee Spot Award shortlist for “Best Roaster/Retailer”, which was won last year by Dear Green Coffee. Initially, this award was only open to retailers, but in 2014, I expanded it to include roasters, who now dominate the award. 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, by-and-large, to stick to either roasters I’ve written about as roasters in the Meet the Roaster series or coffee shops where the beans are roasted on site. This year, cafe/roasters dominate the shortlist.

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Welcome to the final 2015 Coffee Spot Awards shortlist of the day, the “Best Cake” Award, won in 2014 by The Wren. 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. This year was particularly good for cinnamon buns and their ilk.

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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 Bica Coffee House.

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.

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We’re halfway through the 2015 Coffee Spot Awards with the shortlist for the “Best Espresso” Award, which was won in 2014 by Strangers Coffee House. When it comes down to it, I still tend to judge a Coffee Spot by the quality of its espresso. Of course, this is entirely subjective and down to taste. I would never knock a place that made a good espresso just because it wasn’t to my taste.

This award is for those Coffee Spots which served me the best and most memorable espressos of the year. I started the Coffee Spot as a confirmed Italian espresso drinker, but my tastes have evolved and expanded over time. This year’s shortlists has six blends (a couple of which are distinctly old school) and six single-origins, with a surprisingly high number (five) from American Coffee Spots.

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We kick off the third day of the 2015 Coffee Spot Awards with the shortlist for the “Coffee Spot with the Best Outdoor Seating” Award, celebrating all those wonderful Coffee Spots with excellent outdoor seating. This was won last year by Fernandez & Wells, Somerset House.

To qualify for this award, it’s not just a case of sticking a couple of tables or chairs on the pavement outside your coffee shop. Too often, what could be a lovely spot is marred by traffic noise, or cramped conditions, or just being in the wrong place. The best outside seating is often away from the road and passing pedestrians and offers shelter from the wind, rain and/or sun (although rarely all three at once!). Fortunately, there are plenty of Coffee Spots which do exactly that and this is one award I could have filled many times over!

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The last of today’s 2015 Coffee Spot Awards shortlists is the “Best Saturday Supplement” Award, won in 2014 by Cup North. The Saturday Supplement is a place where I can write about coffee, coffee-related events, places which I liked but which didn’t really fit into the category of a Coffee Spot and frankly, anything else that takes my fancy! This Award recognises the best of this year’s Saturday Supplements.

Just so we’re clear on this, the Award is not about my writing (that would be far too self-serving). It’s about the actual subjects that I’m writing about, which this year included coffee festivals, magazines, books, and going for dinner, all of which makes the comparison a little tricky, but that’s my problem!

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Our third shortlist today is the shortlist for the “Best Coffee Spot near a Railway Station”. This was won in 2014 by Coffee Affair at Queenstown Road station, and rewards those Coffee Spots serving great coffee to desperate travellers on Britain’s rail network.

When you’re desperate for good coffee, railway stations are rarely the best places to be. But what if there was a great Coffee Spot just outside the station (or even in the concourse!) or a few minutes’ walk away and you didn’t know about it? Then this award is for you…

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