How ratings work

Who can rate

Anyone can leave a quick star rating, from 1 to 5, on a roaster or cafe page. Signed-in visitors can also write a longer review.

Moderation

• Star-only ratings are published right away.
• Ratings that include a written comment are held for review before they appear.
• We remove spam, abuse, and reviews that are clearly not about the business.

Spam protection

To keep ratings fair, each visitor can rate a given roaster once per day, and there is a limit on how many ratings can come from one connection per hour. We check this using a one-way hash of the IP address rather than storing the address.

What the numbers mean

The score shown is the average of published ratings, next to the number of ratings it is based on. A score from a handful of ratings is a rough signal, so check the count.

Paid placement

Roasters cannot pay to change their rating, and affiliate commissions do not affect ratings. Owners who claim their listing can update their details but cannot edit or remove visitor ratings.

Report a rating

If a rating looks fake or abusive, email mike@smallcoffeeroasters.com with the page link.