Samantha and Tom at WoC San Diego, USA (with Bicafe Guatemala partners)

World of Coffee San Diego – April 2026

Tom and Samantha from the Bennetts team headed to San Diego in early April for this year’s World of Coffee (WoC) - one of the key touchpoints on the global coffee calendar, where a year’s worth of origin conversations can unfold in a few intense, rewarding days. Held just a stone’s throw from the San Diego waterfront, the event brought together over 17,000 producers, exporters, traders and roasters from across the globe. While WoC has traditionally leaned more “specialty”, it’s clear the event continues to broaden, this year feeling more like a true cross-section of the entire coffee trade. Over three days, our team packed in 30+ meetings (and just as many run-ins between booths). As always, it’s equal parts exhausting and invaluable - a few days that leave you with a much clearer sense of not just where the market is, but how people are feeling about it.
 
With the Central American harvest wrapping up, most exporters were closing out sales with reports of little stocks remaining. The falling market during the harvest had also prompted intermediaries to hold onto stocks in hopes of better prices. The thoughts are that coffee would surface over coming months as the intermediaries need to liquidate their physical stocks in exchange for cash to repay loans. These reports reinforced a shift in behaviour that has been driving coffee trading over the past 12-24 months, where cash flow has become one of, if not the most important consideration at every level of the trade. That pressure runs all the way from producers through to exporters and intermediaries, and in some cases is forcing selling decisions based on cash flow rather than market view. More than anything, it reinforces that coffee isn’t just trading on supply and demand at the moment – it’s trading in liquidity.
 
Over in Brazil, early indications for the upcoming crop are overwhelmingly positive. Consistent with Diego’s report on his origin trip last month: good flowering, solid tree health, good rains and large bean sizes. But as always, there’s a big asterisk next to that outlook. Weather risk remains with frost and the shift back to El Niño towards the end of this year, and just as importantly, so does the question of how much coffee producers are willing to sell, and when. Most conversations landed in a similar place: yes, prices could ease once Brazil hits full stride, but only if the coffee actually flows.
 
One area Samantha and Tom spent a lot of time on this year was decaf - and it’s clear this is a category with real momentum globally, yet still underdeveloped in Australia by comparison. Spending time with our partners at the Swiss Water® booth (and at their production facility in Vancouver after the Expo). It stood out how quickly decaf is evolving – expanding beyond traditional audiences and becoming relevant across a wider range of consumers and occasions. Importantly, this shift isn’t coming at the expense of quality. Taste remains critical, with more consumers willing to pay for high performing decaf. At the same time, perception is changing. Decaf is no longer a fallback option – it’s increasingly being treated as a core part of a roaster’s range, and in more mature markets, a genuine volume driver. Swiss Water’s chemical free processing also resonates with roasters and consumers alike. The key question for roasters is now simple: are we keeping up with the decaf growth opportunity?
 

Samantha and Tom at WoC San Diego, USA (with the Swiss Water Team)

World of Coffee Bangkok – May 2026

On the other side of the globe, and a little closer to home, Julian and Aislinn attended WoC Bangkok, exploring South East Asia’s fast growing coffee industry. Across two busy and fun-filled days, the team connected with many of our supply partners from Indonesia, Vietnam, China and further afield.

Walking the show floor, they noticed a distinct trend towards co-fermented coffee and other specially processed coffee lots, showcased by both local and overseas roasters. They were  excited to taste coffees produced in the Asia region, that challenge their expectations for Thai, Indonesian and Chinese coffees – poor quality, a thing of the past.
 
On the supply side, Aislinn and Julian had some great catch ups with our sourcing partners and learnt more about this season’s challenges and opportunities in their respective countries. From Bangkok, the duo headed straight to Papua New Guinea (for our first visit since 2018) to immerse themselves in the Asian coffee industry first hand – stay tuned for more on their travels soon.  
 

Aislinn and Julian at WoC Bangkok, Thailand

Final thoughts
 
If there’s one thing that stood out, especially for Samantha as a first-timer at the WoC, it’s how relationship driven this industry really is. Markets move, crops fluctuate, prices spike and fall but the constant is the network of people working through it all together. That came through in nearly every conversation, across San Diego and Bangkok alike.
 
Yes, the market remains volatile. Yes, there’s still plenty of uncertainty, particularly as we head toward Brazil’s harvest, but there’s also a strong sense of pragmatism across the board. People are adjusting, adapting, and finding ways forward. And maybe that's the biggest takeaway from this year's travels: for all its complexity, coffee is still a people business at its core.
 
As we move further into 2026, we expect more of the same short-term volatility, with Brazil setting the tone later in the year. In the meantime, it’s about staying close to the market, planning where possible, and remaining flexible where it counts.
 
At Bennetts, that’s exactly where our focus sits.