Americano One
An annual award given to the three best cafés in each city. Free, unsolicited, and impossible to buy. No edition has been awarded yet.
What it is
Americano One is an award. Not a partnership, not a certification, not something a café applies for.
Once a year, in each city covered by this guide, the three highest-scoring cafés receive it: Gold, Silver and Bronze. They are chosen on one number — the score out of 100 published on their scorecard — and nothing else enters the decision.
The winning café receives a printed panel for its counter or its wall. That is the whole prize. There is no fee, no plaque to buy, no membership to renew.
How a café wins it
By serving the best americano in town, measured the same way as everyone else.
Every café on this site is visited anonymously and scored out of 100 on five criteria: the americano itself for 50 points, then price, seating comfort, atmosphere and service. The full method is published, including what it deliberately ignores.
At the end of the year, the three highest scores in a city take the three metals. No jury, no deliberation, no shortlist. The ranking decides.
Three metals, not a single winner
Gold, Silver and Bronze rather than first, second and third.
The reason is simple: nobody wants to display a certificate that says second. Ranked numbers read as consolation prizes, and a café that serves the second best americano in Siem Reap has done something worth being proud of.
Each metal carries the same sentence, word for word — awarded for the quality of its coffee. Silver and Bronze are not diminished versions of Gold with a weaker claim.
What it cannot be
It cannot be bought. No café has ever paid to appear on this site, and none will ever pay to be awarded.
It cannot be requested. A café can ask to be visited — that changes nothing about when, or how the visit happens.
It cannot be refused into existence. A score does not depend on an establishment's agreement, and neither does an award. A café that would rather not be ranked is still ranked.
And it is not sponsored by anyone. There is no partner, no brand, no roaster behind it. Every coffee tasted for this guide was paid for out of pocket.
Nothing has been awarded yet
This site is new. At the time of writing, three cafés have been scored in Siem Reap and none in Phnom Penh — not enough for an award to mean anything.
The first edition is planned for December 2026. It will be awarded only if enough cafés have been visited in a city for a top three to be a genuine distinction rather than an arithmetic accident.
Every future edition will state how many cafés were tested that year. An award drawn from twelve visits and one drawn from sixty are not the same award, and the number will always be published alongside it.
Why bother with an award at all
Because a score in a table is easy to ignore, and a panel on a wall is not.
A café that has done the work deserves something it can show. And a guide that hands out a printed award it cannot monetise is making a statement about what the ranking is worth: if the number could be bought, the panel would be worthless, and so would everything else on this site.
FAQ
Who decides the winners?
The ranking does. The three highest scores of the year in each city, with no jury and no deliberation.
Can a café pay for it?
No. Never. There is no paid version of anything on this site.
Can a café ask to be considered?
It can ask to be visited. The visit will happen anonymously, without warning, and the score will be whatever it is.
What does the winner receive?
A printed panel for the counter or the wall, sent to the café. Nothing else, and nothing to pay.
When will the first award be given?
December 2026 at the earliest, and only in cities where enough cafés have been scored for a top three to be meaningful.
Why Gold, Silver and Bronze rather than first, second and third?
Because nobody displays a certificate that reads second. The three metals carry the same sentence and the same weight.