The first shortlist for the 2017 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot” Award, won in 2016 by Jake’s Coffee Box. Finding Coffee Spots in cities such as New York, Edinburgh or Manchester is to be expected. However, good Coffee Spots are everywhere, some of them are in very unexpected places, both geographically and in terms of setting.

This Award is very much defined by the nominees on the shortlist. Some of these are geographical, a reward for bringing great coffee to unexpected places. Others are a recognition of a great or unusual setting for a Coffee Spot.

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Merry Christmas to all my readers old and new! I hope you’re having a great Christmas. As the year comes to an end, so it’s time for the Coffee Spot Awards, now into their SIXTH year! It seems only yesterday that my friend Andrew Rilstone suggested the first Coffee Spot Awards. If only I’d have known what I was unleashing back then…

2017 has been another amazing year, and I’ve travelled more widely than ever, visiting Coffee Spots from California to Japan. The annual Coffee Spot Awards provides a chance for me to reflect on all the great places I’ve visited and to give them all some more well-deserved time in the limelight. As usual, there are 20 Awards, the shortlists for each being publishing between now and New Year’s Eve, with the winners being announced on New Year’s Day.

Thanks to everyone who’s visited the Coffee Spot, followed me on Twitter, liked my Facebook page, and looked at my pictures on Instagram. While I do this for the love of coffee, it means a lot to me that so many of you take the time to read and comment on my writing. Without you, it really would be pointless.

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Happy New Year to all my followers old and new! As we get 2017 underway, here are the winners of the fifth annual Brian’s Coffee Spot Awards. As before, there are 20 Awards, celebrating all the wonderful Coffee Spots I wrote about during 2016. The shortlists for all 20 Awards were announced between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve and now we have the winners!

Before we go on, I know I’ve said this before, but a big thank you to everyone who’s visited the Coffee Spot, followed me on Twitter, liked my Facebook page, +1ed me on Google+ (not many of you left in that category!) and liked my pictures on Instagram. While I do this for the love of coffee, it means a lot to me that so many of you take the time to read and comment on my writing. Without you, it really would be pointless.

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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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