Event guide · curated by Cascara
Manila Coffee Festival 2026.
July 17-19, 2026. Three days, a public-facing roaster floor, and the easiest weekend of the year to taste Philippine-origin coffee roasted by the people who actually source the beans. This is a curator's guide — what the festival is, the Philippine roasters worth seeking out, and how to plan your day so your palate is still sharp at booth twelve.
When
17-19 July 2026
Three days
Where
Metro Manila
Venue announced by organizers
What it is.
Manila Coffee Festival is the more consumer-facing of the two big annual coffee events in the capital. Where the Philippine Coffee Expo (June) leans toward trade and industry programming, the festival is squarely aimed at drinkers — local roasters behind the bar, cultural showcases, and a heavy emphasis on Philippine-grown coffee. If you've been curious about Sagada, Benguet, Bukidnon, Mt. Apo or Mt. Matutum origin coffee and want to taste twenty interpretations of it in one weekend, this is the event.
Three days, a public floor, a wide range of small roasters — including ones whose only retail presence is their own single-cafe operation. For most casual drinkers it's the best low-friction way to discover roasters they wouldn't encounter otherwise.
How to navigate the floor
Pick your corner before you go.
Tasting twenty cups blind, in the order they happen to be in front of you, is the fastest way to remember nothing. Walk in knowing which corner of the Process Spectrum you're hunting in:
Bright, floral, tea-like.
Balanced, chocolatey, familiar.
Juicy, fruit-forward, sweet.
Funky, fermented, unconventional.
Don't know your corner yet? The palate quiz takes five minutes — finish it before the festival opens.
Roasters to seek out.
Philippine roasters in the Cascara cellar with active, well-developed lineups. Not an exhibitor list — that's on the festival's own channels — but a curator's map of the Philippine specialty names worth knowing going in. If they have a booth, prioritize them. If they don't, ask the people who do whether they carry their beans.
Makati
Quezon City
Quezon City
Quezon City specialty roaster crafting small-batch beans for cafes, offices and home brewers, with a flagship on Katipunan Avenue.
Iligan City
Iligan City micro-roaster turning out traceable, small-batch specialty coffees.
San Juan
Home-based specialty coffee roaster in Del Monte, Quezon City.
Sariaya
Pioneering specialty coffee roastery in Sariaya, Quezon Province, supplying beans and gear nationwide.
Makati
Specialty coffee chain founded in 2019 by Lorenzo 'Lanz' Castillo, grown from a market pop-up to nine cafes and a Makati…
Quezon City
Makati
Poblacion Makati-based roastery and cafe offering on-demand custom roasting and grinding tailored to each order, alongside food,…
Makati
Singapore-born specialty roaster brought to the Philippines by the Jollibee Group in 2024, with a flagship at Ayala Triangle…
Makati
Poblacion, Makati cafe-bar and roaster serving 100% Philippine coffee alongside Filipino comfort food.
Quezon City
Quezon City specialty roaster passionately roasting local and imported single-origin and blended beans since 2016, with fresh…
Cebu City
Cebu City micro-roaster and cafe serving only specialty-grade beans (85+ points) in small, rotating batches.
Muntinlupa
Curve Coffee Collaborators is a Philippine specialty roaster focused on award-winning, traceable single-origin and microlot…
Batac
How to find the roasters that don't have a booth.
The most interesting roasters at any Philippine coffee festival are often the ones not on the exhibitor list. A booth costs real money, and a lot of the country's sharpest small operators run on Instagram, sell out by Friday, and skip booth fees entirely. Here's how to find them at the event anyway.
Hit the green-bean supplier booths. This is the single highest-leverage move. Importers like Eighty Plus Coffee will be there pouring lots from a dozen of their roaster customers — including IG-only and pop-up roasters that don't have their own booth. One stop, multiple roasters, and the staff can tell you who's actually doing interesting work with their greens right now.
Check who's guesting in someone else's booth. A lot of small roasters don't take a booth but show up as “guest pour” slots in a friendly cafe's booth — sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a day. The IG stories of your favorite small roasters in the week before the festival usually announce this; check the night before and route accordingly.
Ask baristas the right question. Don't ask “who's the best here?” — you'll get a polite shrug. Ask: “If you weren't pouring this weekend, whose booth would you line up for?” The honest answer is usually a small IG roaster you've never heard of.
Watch for unannounced cuppings. Side rooms and back-of-booth cuppings happen on no schedule, fill on word of mouth, and are where the real comparisons happen. If you see baristas drifting one direction in a coordinated way, follow them.
Eat first, spit by hour two, take notes on your phone. The basics still apply. Empty stomach distorts; four cups in your palate is gone; tomorrow you will not remember which booth had the standout Sagada natural unless you photographed the bag.
Calibrate before you go.
Eleven questions, five minutes. Walk into the festival knowing exactly which roasters to prioritize.
Start calibrating →For roasters
Pouring at the festival? Get listed in the cellar.
People who taste a bag they love at the festival go home and search. If your roastery isn't in the Cascara directory, that search ends nowhere. Listing is free — a permanent profile with your full bean lineup and member ratings, indexed and discoverable year-round.
gil@cascara.cafe →Common questions.
When is the Manila Coffee Festival 2026?
July 17, 18, and 19, 2026. Three days. Final venue, hours and ticketing details are published on the festival's own social channels closer to the date.
Where is the Manila Coffee Festival held?
Venue is announced by the festival organizers each year. Check the official Manila Coffee Festival channels for the 2026 location, hours, and ticketing.
Which roasters will be at the festival?
The official exhibitor list is published on the festival's own channels — that's the source of truth. Cascara isn't an organizer; we're a curator-verified directory of Philippine specialty roasters. The list below is the roasters in our cellar worth knowing going into the event, whether or not they have a booth.
What's the difference between Manila Coffee Festival and Philippine Coffee Expo?
Two separate events run by different organizers. Philippine Coffee Expo (June, Makati) leans more toward trade and industry programming — competitions, talks, supply-chain conversations. Manila Coffee Festival (July) is more consumer-facing, with a heavier emphasis on local Philippine beans and cultural programming. Both are worth attending if you take coffee seriously.
How should I plan a day at the festival?
Three rules. (1) Decide your palate corner before you go — Clean, Classic, Fluid, or Experimental — and prioritize roasters in that corner. (2) Eat first; coffee on an empty stomach distorts everything by your fourth cup. (3) Spit, don't swallow, after the first hour. The palate quiz below takes five minutes and gives you a route through the floor.
Is there a lot of Philippine-origin coffee at the festival?
Yes — that's part of what differentiates Manila Coffee Festival from generic specialty events. Local-origin Philippine coffee (Sagada, Benguet, Bukidnon, Mt. Apo, Mt. Matutum) tends to be heavily represented. If you've never had a well-roasted Philippine bean, this is the easiest place to start.
Read next.
Philippine Coffee Expo 2026 — a curator's guide
June 5-7 in Makati. The trade-leaning sister event.
Specialty coffee in the Philippines — a 2026 guide
The full national map — Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Davao and beyond.
Specialty coffee in Manila — a 2026 guide
The Manila roaster scene — Makati, BGC, QC, Mandaluyong.