The James Beard Awards, among the most prestigious honors in American gastronomy for more than three decades, included coffee-world representatives among its 2026 finalists for the first time. Onyx Coffee Lab received a nomination in the “Most Outstanding Bar” category, while Jack Benchakul — barista and sole staff member behind Endorffeine, a coffee bar in Los Angeles’s Chinatown — became the first coffee professional ever nominated for “Outstanding Professional in Hospitality.” A former pastry chef and molecular biochemist, Benchakul has turned Endorffeine into an almost laboratory-like space offering a nine-course tasting menu inspired by his Thai heritage. The nominations are seen as a symbolic moment for the industry: for the first time, they place specialty coffee in direct competition with top restaurants and chefs, a sign that the line between “coffee shop” and “culinary experience” is blurring in the eyes of American critics.
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Source: sprudge.com