Key takeaways

• Pact only buys speciality coffee that scores 84 points or more – four points above the 80-point line that defines speciality coffee.
• Pact’s coffees have won 23 Great Taste Awards since 2018, including three in 2026.
• Cenicafe 1, a climate-resistant Arabica variety we launched as a world exclusive in 2020, won Gold Sustainable Ingredient at the Sustainable Food Awards 2024.
• In September 2026, we paid $55.50 per kilo for Izuba – the highest price ever paid for a Congolese coffee, and more than double the previous record.
• Pact works with a community of growers that includes Cup of Excellence winners, a Cup of Excellence head judge, and award-winners at Colombia’s Land of Diversity competition.

What we mean when we say the ‘world’s best growers’

Every bag of coffee says the same thing – we care about quality, we care about people. We’d rather show you.

Behind each of our speciality coffees is a grower whose skill you can taste in the cup – and a trail of cupping scores, awards, and record-breaking prices to back it up. 

How speciality coffee is scored

The 80-point line

Speciality coffee is defined by the Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) as:

“A coffee or coffee experience that is recognised for its distinctive attributes, resulting in a significantly higher value within the marketplace.”

Speciality coffee makes up 7-10% of total global coffee. To have ‘speciality’ status, a coffee has to pass a rigorous test. Think of it like a sommelier’s exam, but for coffee beans. The Speciality Coffee Association uses a 100-point scale to grade coffee quality.

Commodity coffee scores below 80. This is the bulk-bought coffee used for instant granules or generic blends. It’s often overroasted to disguise its lack of flavour, often bitter or burnt tasting.

Speciality coffee must score 80 points or higher. 

Within speciality coffee, there are then three brackets – ‘very good’ (80-84 points), ‘outstanding’ (85-89 points), and ‘exceptional’ (90+ points).

You can read more in our guide to what speciality coffee is.

Why our bar sits at 84 points

At Pact, all of our coffee scores a minimum of 84 points. This isn’t just about status. Every extra point ensures that the beans are packed with the outstanding natural flavours only made possible by growers at the very top of their craft – from vibrant blackcurrant to smooth, indulgent chocolate, and plenty in between. 

20 Great Taste Awards since 2018

The Great Taste Awards are run by the Guild of Fine Food. They’re blind-tasted by hundreds of judges – so nothing but flavour counts.

Our coffees have earned 23 stars overall, spread across 20 coffees since 2018.

Our highlights to date include:

• 2018: our first stars for Planalto and Nyarusiza Ngara.
• 2023: our best-ever year, with six awards, including two stars for Fazenda Reis, which also won second-place at Brazil’s 2026 Cup of Excellence Awards.
• 2024: three awards, with Decaf Buenos Aires one of only seven decafs to earn two stars.
• 2026: three more, including two stars for Kopakaki Dutegure Espresso from Rwanda.

Sustainable coffee that tastes exceptional

A world exclusive with Cenicafe 1

Cenicafé 1 was developed by Cenicafé, the research centre of Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), as a variety resistant to coffee leaf rust and other widespread challenges caused by climate change. It also thrives in warmer temperatures – so growers don’t need to clear forests further up the mountain as the climate heats up.

In 2020, we partnered with the FNC and Colombian growers to bring Cenicafé 1 to market as a single-varietal coffee for the very first time. In 2024, it won Gold Sustainable Ingredient at the Sustainable Food Awards.

Read our announcement to meet people who made it happen.

Parainema, Honduras’ award-winner

Parainema is a variety that’s resistant to leaf rust and other crop diseases, cultivated in Honduras. It’s living proof that sustainable choices can taste outstanding, having won Honduras’ Cup of Excellence competition multiple times.

Daniel Ramírez Sr. – who produces our El Laurel coffee – won the competition with the variety in 2017, scoring 91.81. Orlin Gómez, from El Areno, also placed third in Honduras’ Best Parainema competition with just his third harvest.

Why price matters

According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), around 25 million smallholders and their families produce 80% of the world’s coffee. When exceptional coffee earns exceptional prices, growing it becomes a future worth investing in.

The world-record price for Congolese coffee – twice

We’re a founding partner of the Best of Congo Cooperatives competition, which shines a light on the coffee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Its first winner, from the Muungano Cooperative near Lake Kivu, scored 85.63 points. We won it after a fierce bidding war, paying a record price for a Congolese coffee at the time.

In September 2026, we broke that record again. We paid $55.50 per kilo for Izuba, the top-scoring coffee at the Best of Congo Cooperatives competition, beating 63 other bidders. That’s more than double the previous record. 

Izuba – grown by Yetu Qahwah in South Kivu – is the first anaerobic coffee grown in the DRC, with notes of caramel, honey, and a cognac-like finish. It joins our menu as a limited edition in 2027.

Meet the world’s best growers

Cup of Excellence winners

The Cup of Excellence is the most prestigious coffee competition in the world. In 2005, Ricaurte Hernández won Colombia’s first-ever Cup of Excellence with coffee from Nogales – earning a presidential award for averaging over 90 points.

Today, his son Oscar Hernández runs the farm, and we’ve partnered with him for over 11 years.

José Ramón Collazos, one of our longest-standing partners, placed in the top five in 2005.

In Brazil, former footballer Marcus Carvalho has turned Chapada into a Cup of Excellence-winning farm across our 13-year partnership.

In Honduras, we get first pick from Cup of Excellence head judge, Rony Gamez.

Land of Diversity winners

Colombia, Land of Diversity is the FNC’s national quality competition, first held in 2016 to showcase the range and quality of Colombian coffee. Our Director of Coffee and Social Impact was involved in founding the competition alongside the FNC.

Only the very best make the cut. In 2020, judges shortlisted just 352 of a record 1,610 lots – each scoring over 86 points. And growers are rewarded for it – in 2023, the auction averaged $22.77 per pound, with one lot earning more than $120 per pound – both record highs for the competition.

Luis Ernesto Nieto’s Los Aguacates Geisha, which we bought and sold in 2026, won its ‘exotic’ award. María Bercelia’s Los Angeles coffee, which regularly features on our menu, scored 88 points.

Farming for the future

To be the world’s best, there has to be longevity – which means inclusivity, access, and fairness across the industry. This creates a sustainable future for coffee.

Our ever-growing community of growers leads us to some pretty incredible places – growers with amazing stories that are quite simply groundbreaking.

To us, that adds a new definition to ‘the world’s best’. Because anyone trying to change and evolve an industry deserves recognition.

We partner with the Mirtayu Women’s Group in Huila, whose members now sell their coffee under their own names rather than in regional batches.

In May 2026, we launched Colombia Single Origin with Waitrose – made entirely from their harvests, so every bag sold puts more money directly into their hands.

Deisy Paiva, a member of Mirtayu, said: “We are taking steps in this process that are going to be something more solid. We have lost the fear of entering the world of negotiation and have people learn from us – not just from the work we do, but from our influence across the whole coffee process.”

“We women are more ambitious to do it all – and be able to grow in this. We see that we are going to have a good reception and not lose the essence of being women, and that’s important for future generations.”

At 103 years old, Dona Henriqueta Carvalho has grown coffee in Brazil for 63 years. Through the Cafeina Group – a collective of over 1,800 women growers that we’ve partnered with since 2023 – her coffee was recognised as her own for the first time.

Henriqueta said: “Having my coffee roasted by Pact fills me with great pride, opening doors I never imagined, and allowing what I produced with my own hands to reach beyond Brazil – I never dreamed that my coffee could cross the ocean and reach other countries.”

FAQs

What score does coffee need to score to be speciality-grade?

A coffee needs to score at least 80 points on the SCA’s 100-point cupping scale to be classed as speciality – ‘very good’ (80-84 points), ‘outstanding’ (85-89 points), and ‘exceptional’ (90+ points).

What is Pact’s minimum cupping score?

We only buy coffee that scores 84 points or more.

How many Great Taste Awards has Pact won?

Our coffees have won 20 Great Taste Awards since 2018, including three in 2026.

What is Cenicafé 1?

Cenicafé 1 is a climate-resistant Arabica variety developed by Colombia’s FNC. It won Gold Sustainable Ingredient at the Sustainable Food Awards in 2024.

What is the highest price ever paid for Congolese coffee?

In September 2026, we paid $55.50 per kilo for Izuba, winner of the Best of Congo Cooperatives competition in 2026.