This season included many firsts for the Partners Coffee team - from the introduction of our Exceptional Coffee series, to being honored at the Good Food Awards. Summer 2026 was one to remember and we can't wait to see what's to come.

Keep reading to dive into the details behind a few of our most notable collaborations, events, and more from Summer 2026!

In May of this year, we first introduced our Exceptional Coffee series. This collection presents rare and limited availability coffees that are especially selected for their quality and distinctive character. These coffees work harmoniously within our relationship-based sourcing framework and are produced, sourced, and roasted for an exceptional experience.

As the name suggests, the coffees in this collection are rare and extraordinary coffees that have been selected for their quality or distinctive character, oftentimes only in extremely limited supply. As such, all Exceptional Coffees will only be available for just a few weeks after launch.

With such limited availability, we knew these extra-special coffees needed unique design elements. For the box illustrations we worked with Moonsub Shin, (@moonsub), who we wanted to specifically acknowledge. We have a history working with Moonsub that extends back to the early days (as well as more recent projects), and we immediately knew we wanted to collaborate with him on a packaging design that would feel extra special, but still feel like it had been with us the whole time.

In early June we invited our coffee-loving community to celebrate the launch of Edin Lopez Gesha with our first community sound share. We couldn't have been happier with the music and conversation that filled the space of our Bedford cafe. Attendees brought their favorite records, contributing to the ambiance of the event; and our team kept the coffee flowing with tastings of our latest Exceptional Coffee release.

Thank you to all who joined - we can't wait for the next one!

If you've ever worked in retail, you're likely familiar with the term "point of sale." If you haven't ever worked in retail or you're unsure what that phrase means - it's simply a term referring to the register or system that takes payment when an order is placed. In our cafes, our point of sale system is powered by a company called Square.

The team from Square graciously invited our co-founder, Amber, and our VP of Strategy and Execution, James, to the Block office Headquarters to speak on a panel along with the leadership team from one of our favorite non-profit organizations and go-to for vintage finds, Housing Works.

Amber and James discussed the many benefits and integrations that Square provides for small businesses and were also asked to help develop ideas for what other innovations could help Partners as we continue to grow and evolve in our cafes.

Before and after the event our Director of Coffee, Cary, our Educator, Joe, and our Bedford Cafe Assistant Manager, Basil, delighted the Square team of 200 employees with coffee service from our mobile espresso setup.

The Summer Fancy Food Show is a product discovery event for members of the specialty food industry, where inspiration and business opportunity collide.

"This was Partner Coffee's second year at the Summer Fancy Food Show, and what I love most is seeing how our team rallies together during these events. It was wonderful to meet so many attendees and vendors who stopped by our booth for a coffee pick-me-up or just to chat. And our team was out there serving our coffee with so much intentionality and personality, it was a win for everyone."

-Raina R. | Business Development Director

This fun and educational exhibition is hosted by the Specialty Food Association and was held this year at the Javits Center near Hudson Yards in New York. Many members of our team were honored to participate in this year’s show and had plenty of positivity to share throughout the event while serving up our Good Food Awards-winning Ethiopia - Suke Quto, cold brew, and cortados made with Minor Figures oat milk.

As an extra special treat, we partnered with our friends at Cheeky Cocktails, Seed + Mill, Bread Alone Bakery, Fine & Raw, and Dona to introduce the Taste of New York Giveaway. This interactive collaboration was the perfect excuse for attendees to try out amazing products like top-shelf syrups, unique sesame creations, organic breads, premium chocolates, and quality teas.

Right before our team set up for the Summer Fancy Food Show, we were honored to be featured in a ceremony and receive our Good Food Awards medal for the spectacular coffee, Ethiopia - Suke Quto. Suke Quto is one of our most inspiring farm partners, and we’re proud to represent their work.

Our Green Coffee Buyer, Sam, has compiled answers to as many questions as we could think of surrounding this achievement - which you can read in full at the link below. If you have any questions that haven't been answered in our blog post, feel free to send us a message and we'll be happy to help.

We're always thrilled to work on new gear launches, so it was a pleasure to partner with Philips on their "House of Coffee" event this past June. Celebrating 70 years of Philips coffee and the release of their automatic brewer, the Aromis 8000, this popup provided guests a hands-on experience with the new machine and creating custom drinks, complete with treats from Fan Fan Doughnuts.

Big thanks to the teams at Philips and PopLab Marketing for bringing this event to life.

Have a suggestion for who we should collab with next?

Send us an email to help@partnerscoffee.com!