Lujiazui International Coffee Festival Returns for Its 11th Edition: Nearly 400 Global Brands Gather in Shanghai

On October 19, 2026, the 11th Lujiazui International Coffee Festival opened at Lujiazui Central Green in Shanghai, themed “Bound by Coffee, Connected to the World”. The main venue runs through October 25, open daily from 10:00 to 22:00 for the food court and craft-beer corner (other brand zones until 20:00). A second venue at the Oriental Riverside Hotel, Shanghai International Convention Center, joins from October 22 to 25.

Scale Up Again: Nearly 400 Brands, 20+ Countries, 20+ World Champions

According to the festival’s official announcement, this year’s edition gathers nearly 400 global brands from some 70 cities across more than 20 countries, including over 50 overseas brands. More than 20 world-champion coffee professionals arrive with their own roastery brands, and over 70 debut and limited-edition products will be unveiled. Last year’s “City Walk Around the World” zone alone brought 48 brands from 32 cities in 19 countries across four continents; this year it expands further, letting visitors taste the world’s coffee scenes without leaving Pudong.

Three Firsts This Year

• A dedicated Business & Media Day at opening: October 19 is reserved exclusively for coffee professionals, media, buyers and cross-industry partners, bookable through the official mini-program’s corporate channel; general visitors enter from October 20.
• Longest-ever evening hours: the food court and craft-beer zone stay open until 22:00, extending the festival well into the night for the first time.
• First partnership with the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, bringing coffee and performing arts together in Lujiazui. The festival also unites tourism resources from five provinces and municipalities for the first time, and collaborates with Jazz Shanghai, Scent Shanghai and the National Scenic Highway G318. The newly upgraded Lujiazui International Barista Skills Competition will hold its live finals at the main venue.

Across four days, more than ten champions and avant-garde roasters leave the podium for the table in 16 masterclasses — sharing origin stories, brewing hands-on, and pouring their signature “champion-only” coffees beside the people who love them.

Ten Years: From 24 Brands to a “United Nations of Coffee”

Founded in 2016, the Lujiazui International Coffee Festival introduced the open-air urban coffee festival concept to China. Over its first nine editions it hosted more than 1,400 domestic and international coffee brands and served 850,000 on-site visitors. The 10th edition (2025) drew over 300 brands, more than 150,000 visitors in five days, and generated over RMB 25 million in transactions, lifting retail sales around the Lujiazui commercial district by 35% week on week.

In 2026 the festival has become a two-season event: a spring special edition was already held May 29–31, pairing coffee with 600-year-old Kunqu opera. And after leading Chinese coffee brands to their international debut at the 2025 London Coffee Festival, the organization is heading again this year — this time to Paris.

Admission is free but requires advance booking via the official “Lujiazui Coffee Festival” mini-program; purchasing the annual gift box or co-branded merchandise redeems an entry ticket on site. From the lawn of Central Green to the riverside second venue, the city festival named for coffee keeps carrying Shanghai’s flavor to the world.

Sources: Lujiazui Financial City International Coffee Culture Festival official announcements, Jiefang Daily, Shanghai Bendibao