Best of Congo 2026 UK

The Best of Congo Cooperatives returns to London for 2026

Judges, roasters, and growing cooperatives gather on June 19 to taste and purchase the pinnacle of Congolese coffee.

LONDON, UK – June 19, 2026 The annual Best of Congo Cooperatives competition returns to London on June 19 for its highly anticipated third edition, hosted at the headquarters of specialty roaster Pact Coffee.

Founded through a strategic partnership between CongoAgri Platform, African Coffee Connect, Keynote Coffee, Pact, and Assembly, the prestigious event will see 34 of the finest Congolese coffees from the recent harvest evaluated by a panel of 20 industry experts.

This year’s esteemed judging panel features leading coffee buyers from brands including Harrods, Skylark Coffee, Lucid Coffee Roasters, Dark Woods Coffee, and Union Handroasted.

Following the rigorous evaluation and scoring process, the coffees will be presented to international buyers at a live auction. Expectations for this year's event are exceptionally high; the 2024 edition broke the world record for the highest price ever paid for a Congolese coffee.

In addition to the competition, representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s leading coffee-growing cooperatives will be in attendance. They will lead discussions on the innovative agricultural practices and quality-control advancements that shaped the remarkable 2025/2026 crop.

Richard Hide, founder of African Coffee Connect, said: “With Congo’s endemic challenges, the wonderful coffees presented at BOCC26 stem from a refusal to give up and be defeated.

“Over the last few years, farmers have seen that producing high-quality coffee brings rewards and hope for their communities.

“Even if they have only been able to produce a few bags this year, these microlots are their calling cards. This event is testimony to the fact that today they have allies, both in the UK and across the world. This is the power of specialty coffee to change lives.”