New Delhi, Aug. 29 -- For years, one assumption ruled when it came to specialty coffee: the world's best cafes existed in the world's best-known coffee cities, be it Melbourne, Tokyo, or Copenhagen.

Till a cafe in northwest Arkansas upended that idea.

Earlier this year, Onyx Coffee Lab in downtown Rogers was named the world's best coffee shop by The World's 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026 earlier this year. The rankings, announced at CoffeeFest Madrid, drew on the opinions of more than 800 judges and 350,000 public votes, and factored in quality, hospitality, innovation, sustainability and service. Onyx beat more than 15,000 cafes worldwide, a win that took the world by surprise.

Rogers, a town with a population of about 75,000 in the Ozark...