World of Coffee 2027 heads to Lisbon, Portugal for first time

Portugal’s first World of Coffee is heading to Lisbon, a sign that the city has moved from coffee-stop charm to a serious place on the specialty map. The Specialty Coffee Association has chosen Lisbon for World of Coffee Europe 2027, which will run June 17-19, 2027, at the Lisbon Exhibition and Congress Centre, known as FIL, in Parque das Nações.

The Lisbon edition will also put three World Coffee Championships on the show floor: the World Latte Art Championship, the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship and the Cezve/Ibrik Championship. The SCA says the competitions will be staged live in front of attendees, a format that turns the expo into more than a trade hall. It becomes a single room where regional champions, roasters, equipment brands, buyers and coffee travelers can watch skill, commerce and product culture intersect in real time.

The choice lands with extra weight because Lisbon is not just another European stop. Visit Lisboa describes FIL as the biggest exhibition and congress facility in Lisbon and in Portugal, with a total area of 100,000 square meters, four pavilions of 10,000 square meters each and a Meeting Centre with three auditoria, five meeting rooms and two foyers. Parque das Nações is also framed by Visit Lisboa as a key business center and meetings destination, which helps explain why the city could absorb a show of this scale.

The timing points to a broader shift in the SCA’s map. World of Coffee Brussels is set for June 25-27, 2026, at Brussels Expo, and the association’s calendar now stretches beyond the old European core, with upcoming events also scheduled for Panama City, Dubai, New Orleans, Tokyo and Bogotá across 2026 and 2027. Lisbon’s selection puts Iberia closer to the center of that orbit, and it strengthens a part of Europe that has been growing in influence through roasting, competition culture and specialty retail.

Yannis Apostolopoulos, the SCA’s chief executive, has said World of Coffee is meant to bring the global industry together in a way that creates real value for businesses, professionals and the future of specialty coffee. Lisbon’s first turn as host makes that mission feel concrete: a new European stage, a bigger regional footprint and another marker that the specialty coffee world is no longer gathering only in the usual cities.