Event guide · curated by Cascara
WOFEX 2026.
It starts with the cherryJuly 29 to August 1, 2026, across the World Trade Center and SMX Convention Center in Pasay. WOFEX — the World Food Expo — is the biggest food and foodservice show in the Philippines, and coffee is a real corner of it: a Coffee Series on opening day, a beverage hall of suppliers, and competition programming — and this year, Lance Hedrick on the floor for all four days. This is a coffee-drinker's guide to a show built for the whole trade — who's actually confirmed, and how to work the floor without wrecking your palate by lunch.
When
29 Jul - 1 Aug 2026
Coffee Series: from 29 Jul
Where
WTC + SMX, Pasay
Mall of Asia complex
The question everyone's asking
Lance Hedrick is coming. Hoffmann isn't confirmed.
Confirmed 18 July 2026: Lance Hedrick is coming. He announced it himself — he'll be at WOFEX with H Proper Coffee Roasters for the full run, July 29 to August 1, in his first visit to the Philippines. Find him at H Proper's booth on the SMX side. James Hoffmann is a separate question and the answer is no: with the show opening, WOFEX has still announced nothing and there is nothing on his own channels about a Manila date.
He said it himself on 18 July: “Philippines! I'll be attending WOFEX with @hpropercoffeeroasters July 29 to August 1” — calling the trip a bucket-list one, and promising SEY on hand for impromptu brew sessions in his free time. It follows H Proper's guess-the-guest teaser three days earlier, which the Manila group chats had already called.
For the local scene this is a genuinely big deal: one of the most-watched brewing voices in coffee, on the floor for all four days, at a Philippine roaster's booth. If you want to catch him, plan around H Proper's booth — it's on the SMX side, and they're the ones posting his schedule day by day. Go early. A meet-and-greet with a name this size on a trade floor means a queue.
James Hoffmann is the other half of the rumour and it never moved — the show opens and there is still nothing from WOFEX's official channels and nothing on his own. Treat any “Hoffmann confirmed” post without one of those sources as a rumour — the same way this one was, until it wasn't. If it changes, we'll update this page the same day.
What WOFEX is.
WOFEX is the Philippines' flagship food, beverage, hospitality and foodservice trade exhibition. It's huge — held across two venues at once, the World Trade Center and the SMX Convention Center, and aimed at the whole industry: suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, chefs, restaurateurs, retailers and investors. Most of the floor is equipment, ingredients and foodservice. Coffee is one part of a much larger show.
That's the thing to get right before you go. This is not a coffee festival — it's a trade expo where coffee has a seat. For a drinker that's still worth it: it puts roasters, importers, green traders and equipment vendors in one building, and the conversations lean commercial in a way the consumer festivals don't. Go for the supply side of coffee, not the cupping-table side.
The coffee at WOFEX.
Three things are worth planning around. The details for this edition live on wofex.com — confirm times there before you build a day around them.
From July 29 · SMX
The Coffee Series
Paid seminar programming on the coffee business, opening on July 29 and running through the WOFEX University track to July 31. Built for people who work in coffee, not just drink it. Three cafe-side sessions this edition:
- Barista mastery — essential coffee techniques
- Designing a cafe menu for profitability and sustainability
- Designing cafe spaces for customer flow and comfort
Seats are enrolled separately from expo entry — ₱2,000 per topic onsite, ₱1,800 over Zoom, via WOFEX University.
All four days · SMX, 2nd floor
FOODSERVE beverage hall
The drinks side of the show — coffee, tea and beverage suppliers plus the machines behind the counter. Where you taste what roasters and equipment brands are pushing this year.
Check the schedule
Coffee competitions
WOFEX runs coffee-competition programming with the Filipino Coffee Institute — espresso, brewing and roasting battles across its editions. If competitions are your reason to go, confirm the exact categories and dates for this show on the official channels.
How to navigate the floor
Pick your corner before you go.
A show this size will flood you. By the fourth or fifth cup your palate is spent. The way to get value out of it is to taste with intent — know which corner of the Process Spectrum you're hunting in, and route to the booths most likely to deliver.
Bright, floral, tea-like.
Balanced, chocolatey, familiar.
Juicy, fruit-forward, sweet.
Funky, fermented, unconventional.
Don't know your corner yet? The palate quiz takes less than a minute — finish it before you set foot in the hall.
Roasters to seek out.
Philippine roasters in the Cascara cellar with active, well-developed lineups. Not an exhibitor list — that's on the official channels — but a curator's map of the Philippine specialty names worth knowing going into the show. If they have a booth, prioritize them. If they don't, ask the people who do whether they carry their beans.
Makati
Third-wave specialty roastery sourcing from Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and the Philippines, with cafes in Makati, Ortigas,…
Paranaque
Cebu City
Cebu City roaster offering traceable Philippine coffee with farm-to-cup transparency, shipping single origins and rare lots…
Muntinlupa
Curve Coffee Collaborators is a Philippine specialty roaster focused on award-winning, traceable single-origin and microlot…
Quezon City
Makati
Makati cafe and roastery serving specialty single-origin coffee roasted in-house, with branches on Jimenez and San Isidro.
San Juan
San Juan-based specialty roaster focused on light-roast beans for retail and wholesale to quality-driven cafes.
Mandaluyong
Mandaluyong specialty coffee roaster supplying roasted beans, barista training and equipment, with a flagship inside Shangri-La…
Cagayan De Oro
Makati
Makati specialty coffee roaster and equipment distributor (La Marzocco, Rocket), with branches across Metro Manila.
Las Piñas City
Las Piñas roastery sourcing Philippine coffee through Fair Trade and sustainable practices, supplying beans nationwide via the…
Quezon City
Quezon City specialty roaster passionately roasting local and imported single-origin and blended beans since 2016, with fresh…
Batac
Bacolod
Antipolo
Mandaluyong
Mandaluyong specialty coffee retailer and roaster catering to home enthusiasts, with branches on Sheridan and Mabini and a wide…
Working a trade floor without burning out.
Register first, arrive early. WOFEX is entry-by-registration, not a walk-up gate. Sort it on wofex.com before the day. Opening-day queues are long, and the Coffee Series is on that first day.
Eat first. Coffee on an empty stomach reads sharper, more acidic, and more fatiguing. This is a food expo — there is no excuse. A real meal before the beverage hall changes how everything tastes.
Spit by the second hour. Sommelier rules. After about four cups your receptors are overloaded and your judgement collapses. Treat the beverage hall like a cupping table, not a coffee crawl.
Take notes on your phone. By the time you're home you will not remember which roaster had the white-grape Yirgacheffe. Photograph the bag, type one sentence about the cup. Two-line notes beat zero-line memory.
Talk supply, not just taste. The edge of a trade show over a festival is the people behind the booth — green traders, importers, equipment reps. Ask where a coffee came from and who else carries it. That's where the floor pays off.
Calibrate before you go.
Eleven questions, less than a minute. Walk into the hall knowing exactly which roasters to prioritize.
Start calibrating →For roasters
Exhibiting at WOFEX? Get listed in the cellar.
People who taste something they love at the show go home and search for it. 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 WOFEX 2026?
July 29 to August 1, 2026. The Manila edition runs across two venues at once — the World Trade Center Manila and the SMX Convention Center in Pasay. The Coffee Series programming opens on July 29 at SMX and continues through the WOFEX University seminar track to July 31.
Is Lance Hedrick coming to WOFEX 2026?
Yes. Lance Hedrick announced on 18 July 2026 that he'll be at WOFEX with H Proper Coffee Roasters from July 29 to August 1 — his first visit to the Philippines. Find him at H Proper's booth on the SMX side; they're posting his schedule day by day. Expect a queue.
Is James Hoffmann coming to WOFEX 2026?
No. WOFEX has not announced him and there is nothing on his own channels about a Manila date — and the show is now open. That's separate from Lance Hedrick, who is confirmed. Treat any “Hoffmann confirmed” post without an official source as a rumour.
Is there coffee at WOFEX?
Yes. WOFEX is a full food-and-foodservice expo, but coffee is a real part of it: the Coffee Series seminars from July 29, the FOODSERVE beverage hall on the second floor of SMX with coffee, tea and equipment suppliers, and coffee-competition programming WOFEX runs with the Filipino Coffee Institute. The seminars are enrolled separately from expo entry — ₱2,000 per topic onsite, ₱1,800 over Zoom, through WOFEX University. Check the official channels for this edition's exact competition schedule.
Where is WOFEX held and how do I get there?
Two adjacent venues in the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay — the World Trade Center Manila and the SMX Convention Center, held simultaneously. It's reachable by car with on-site parking, by the MOA shuttle network, and a short ride from the LRT-1 / EDSA corridor. Coffee programming sits on the SMX side.
Is WOFEX free to attend?
WOFEX is a trade expo, so entry is by registration rather than a walk-up gate. Registration and any trade-day rules are published on wofex.com — that's the source of truth. Register ahead of time; on-site queues on the opening day are long.
What's the difference between WOFEX, the Philippine Coffee Expo, and the Manila Coffee Festival?
Three separate events with three different organizers. WOFEX (July 29-Aug 1) is the giant food-and-foodservice trade expo — coffee is one hall inside a much bigger show. The Philippine Coffee Expo (June, Makati) is coffee-only and trade-leaning. The Manila Coffee Festival (July 17-19) is the consumer-facing coffee event. We have guides for the other two — linked at the bottom.
How should I work the coffee floor at WOFEX?
Decide your palate corner before you go — Clean, Classic, Fluid, or Experimental — and route to the roasters in that corner first. Eat before you arrive; coffee on an empty stomach distorts everything by your fourth cup. Spit, don't swallow, after the first hour. The palate quiz below takes less than a minute and gives you a map for the floor.
Read next.
Philippine Coffee Expo 2026
June 5-7 at One Ayala, Makati. Dates, venue, and the Philippine specialty roasters worth seeking out on the floor.
Gloria Lagawan tops the PCE 2026 auction
₱4,900 a kilo for a washed Bukidnon lot — the top price at the 2026 Philippine Coffee Expo green-coffee auction, and what the PCQC result means.
Manila Coffee Festival 2026
July 17-19. The other major Manila coffee event of the year — what to expect and the Philippine roasters worth tasting.
Coffee Plz 2026
September 4-6 at Ayala Malls Circuit, Makati. The roaster-run festival returns for its second edition — what to expect, and the roasters worth seeking out.
Author · Gil Erez, Founder of Cascara · 9 July 2026